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UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
AT  LOS  ANGELES 


GIFT  OF   CAPT.  AND   MRS. 
PAUL   MCBRIDE  PERIGORD 


ERSITY  of  CAIIFORNIA 
AT 
LOS  ANGELES 
LIBRARY 


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VANISHING 
LANDMARKS 

The    Trend    Toward   Bolshevism 


By 

Leslie    M.    Shaw 

Former  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 
Elx-Governor  of  Iowa 


:    II'  :\iy  '^:: 


Laird  &  Lee,  Inc. 

Chicago 

144327 


Copyright,  1919 

By 
Laird  &  Lee,  Inc. 


YanisTiing  Landmarks 


p. 


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^5  2^  V 


IN  JUSTIFICATION 

There  are  several  types  of  intellect,  with  in- 
numerable variations  and  combinations.  Some 
see  but  do  not  observe.  They  note  effects  but 
look  upon  them  as  facts  and  never  seek  a  cause. 
Tides  lift  and  rock  their  boats  but  they  ask  not 
why.  They  stand  at  Niagara  and  view  with  some 
outward  evidence  of  delight  a  stream  of  water 
and  an  awful  abyss,  but  they  lift  neither  their 
thoughts  nor  their  eyes  towards  the  invisible  cur- 
rent of  equal  volume  passing  from  Nature's 
great  evaporator,  over  Nature's  incomprehen- 
sible transportation  system,  back  to  the  moun- 
c^  tains,  that  the  rivers  may  continue  to  flow  to  the 
sea  and  yet  the  sea  be  not  full.  That  class  will 
find  little  in  this  volume  to  commend,  and  much 
to  criticise. 

A  man  is  not  a  pessimist  who,  when  he  hears 
the  roar  and  sees  the  funnel-shaped  cloud,  directs 
his  children  to  the  pathway  leading  to  the  cyclone 
cellar.  He  is  not  a  pessimist  who,  after  noting 
forty  years  of  boastful  planning,  realizes  that 
war  is  inevitable,  and  urges  preparedness.    But 

V 


vi  In  Justification 

the  man  is  worse  than  a  pessimist — he  is  a  fool 
— who  stands  in  front  of  a  cyclone,  rejoicing  in 
the  manifestation  of  the  forces  of  nature,  or 
faces  a  world  war,  expatiating  on  the  greatness 
of  his  country  and  the  patriotism  and  prowess 
of  his  countrymen. 

It  is  commonly  believed  that  Nero  fiddled 
while  Rome  burned.  Conceding  that  he  did,  it 
was  relatively  innocent  folly  compared  to  the 
way  many  Americans  fiddled,  and  fiddled,  and 
fiddled,  and  fiddled,  until  Germany  was  well  on 
the  way  to  world  domination.  Coming  in  at 
fabulous  cost  and  incalculable  waste,  and  saving 
the  situation  at  the  sixtieth  minute  of  the  elev- 
enth hour,  we  not  only  claim  a  full  day's  pay 
but  seem  to  resent  that  those  who  toiled  longer, 
with  no  more  at  stake,  are  asking  that  honors 
be  divided. 

We  are  now  facing  a  far  worse  danger  than 
the  armed  hosts  of  the  Central  Powers — a  fren- 
zied mob  each  day  extending  its  influence,  and 
multiplying  its  adherents.  Shall  we  again  fiddle 
and  fiddle,  and  fiddle  and  fiddle,  or  shall  we 
both  think  and  act? 

For  six  thousand  years  the  human  race  has 
experimented  in  governments  and  only  China 
boasts  of  its  antiquity.  During  this  period  al- 
most every  possible   form  of   government  was 


In  Justification  vii 

tried  but  nothing  stood  the  test  of  the  ages. 
The  few  surviving  pages  of  the  uncertain  his- 
tory of  nations  that  have  existed  and  are  no 
more,  give  ample  proof  that  the  task  of  self- 
government  is  the  severest  that  God  in  his  wis- 
dom has  ever  placed  upon  His  children. 

When  this  government  was  launched  the  world 
said  it  would  not  endure.  It  has  both  existed  and 
prospered  for  more  than  a  century  and  a  quarter, 
but  there  is  no  thinking  man  between  the  seas, 
and  no  thinking  man  beyond  the  seas,  who  does 
not  recognize  that  representative  government,  in 
the  great  repubhc,  is  still  in  its  experimental 
stage.  Even  Washington  declared  he  dared  not 
hope  that  what  had  been  accomplished  or  any- 
thing he  might  say  would  prevent  our  Nation 
from  "running  the  course  which  has  hitherto 
marked  the  destiny  of  nations." 

It  is  said  that  when  Galusha  Grow  entered 
Congress  he  carried  a  letter  of  introduction  to 
Thomas  Benton,  then  just  concluding  his  thirty 
years  of  distinguished  service.  Naturally,  Senator 
Benton  was  pleased  with  the  brilliant  Pennsyl- 
vanian,  for  he  said  to  him :  "Young  man,  you  have 
come  too  late.  All  the  great  problems  have  been 
solved."  Ah !  they  had  not  been.  Mr.  Grow  lived 
to  help  solve  some;  others  have  since  been  solved; 
more  confront  us  now  than  ever  before  in  our 


viii  In  Justification 

history,  and  the  sky  is  lurid  with  their  coming. 
•  If  we  are  to  continue  a  great  self-governing 
and  self-governed  nation,  we  must  spend  some 
time  in  the  study  of  statecraft,  the  most  involved, 
the  most  comj)lex,  and,  barring  human  redemp- 
tion, the  most  important  subject  that  ever  en- 
gaged the  attention  of  thinking  men. 

About  the  only  subject  which  vitally  affects 
all,  and  yet  to  which  few  give  serious  thought,  is 
the  science  of  government.  Our  farms  and  our 
factories,  our  mills  and  our  mines,  together  with 
current  news,  much  of  it  frivolous,  and  little  of  it 
thought-insj^iring,  engage  our  attention,  but 
statecraft,  as  distinguished  from  partisan  poli- 
tics, is  accorded  scant  consideration.  In  the  first 
place  we  are  too  busy,  and,  secondly,  we  do  not 
improve  even  our  available  time.  A  young  New 
Englander  was  asked  how  his  people  spent  their 
long  winter  evenings.  "Oh,"  said  he,  "sometimes 
we  sit  by  the  fire  and  think,  and  sometimes  we  sit 
by  the  fire."  It  is  the  hope  of  the  author  that  the 
following  pages  will  invite  attention  to  some 
problems  that  in  his  humble  judgment  must  be 
thought  out  at  the  fireside,  and  must  be  wisely 
solved,  if  we  expect  to  keep  our  country  on  the 
map,  and  our  flag  in  the  sky  until  the  Heavens 
shall  be  rolled  together  as  a  scroll. 

Recent  years  have  demonstrated  the  abiding 


In  Justification  ix 

patriotism  of  the  American  people  and  their  faith 
in  the  ever-increasing  greatness  of  America.  Few 
there  be  who  would  not  gladly  die  for  their  coun- 
try. The  only  thing  they  are  not  willing  to  do 
is  to  think,  and  then  hold  their  conduct  in  obe- 
dience to  their  judgment.  The  future  of  our 
blessed  land  rests  with  those  who  can  think,  who 
will  think,  who  can  and  will  grasp  a  major  prem- 
ise, a  minor  premise  and  drawing  a  conclusion 
therefrom,  never  desert  it. 

It  has  become  painfully  commonplace  to  say 
that  the  American  people  can  be  trusted.  While 
their  good  intentions  can  be  rehed  upon,  no  na- 
tion will  long  exist  on  good  intentions.  The  na- 
tions that  have  gone  from  the  map  have  perished 
in  spite  of  good  intentions.  The  future  of  Amer- 
ica rests  not  in  the  purity  of  motives,  nor  upon 
the  intelligence,  but  in  the  wisdom  of  its  citizens. 
In  the  realm  of  statecraft  some  of  the  most  dan- 
gerous characters  in  history  have  been  intelligent, 
pious  souls,  and  some  of  the  safest  and  wisest  have 
been  unlearned. 

Socrates  taught  by  asking  questions.  So  far  as 
possible  he  who  is  interested  enough  to  read  this 
volume  will  be  expected  to  draw  his  own  conclu- 
sions. The  facts  stated  are  historically  correct. 
What  deductions  I  may  have  drawn  therefrom 
is  relatively  immaterial.  The  question  of  primary 


X  In  Justification 

importance  to  you  will  be,  and  is,  what  conclu- 
sions you  draw.  And  even  your  conclusions  will 
be  worthless  to  you  and  to  your  country  unless 
your  conduct  as  a  citizen  is  in  some  degree  influ- 
enced and  controlled  thereby. 

From  the  monument  that  a  grateful  people  had 
erected  to  a  worthy  son  I  read  this  extract  from 
a  speech  he  had  made  in  the  United  States  Sen 
ate:  "He  who  saves  his  country,  saves  himself, 
saves  all  things,  and  all  things  saved  bless  him; 
while  he  who  lets  his  country  perish,  dies  himself, 
lets  all  things  die,  and  all  things  dying  curse 
him!" 

Leslie  M.  Shaw. 

Washington,  D.  C,  March,  1919. 


CONTENTS 

I     Republic  Versus  Democracy .  .  13 

II     The  Constitutional  Convention  19 

III  Statesmen  Must  First  be  Born 

and  Then  Made 27 

IV  Expectations  Realized 31 

V     Independence  of  the  Represen- 
tative    36 

VI     Trend  of  the  Times 43 

VII     Constitutional  Liberty 48 

VIII     What  is  a  Constitution 57 

IX     Preliminary    70 

X     No    Competition   Between   the 

Sexes    74 

XI     Purposes  and  Policies  of  Gov- 
ernment      79 

XII     The  Result  of  this  Policy 86 

XIII     All  Dependent  Upon  the  Pay- 
roll      93 

XIV     American  Fortunes  not  Large, 

Considering    98 

XV     Popular    Dissatisfaction 103 

XVI     Greed  and  its  Punishment....  110 

XVII     Obstructive  Legislation 115 


Co7itents 

XVIII     The  Inevitable  Result 121 

XIX     Unearned   Increment 131 

XX     Business    Philosoi)hies 137 

XXI  The  Government's  Handicap.  .  145 

XXII     The  Post  Office 158 

XXIII     Civil    Service 161 

XXIV     Civil    Service   Retirement 179 

XXV  Property  by  Common  Consent  184 

XXVI     Equality  of  Income 193 

XXVII     An  Historical  Warning 196 

XXVIII     Capital  and  Labor 202 

XXIX  Can  the  Crisis  be  Averted.  ...  209 

XXX     Industrial    Republics 217 

Conclusion   224 

Appendix 232 


VANISHING  LANDMARKS 

CHAPTER  I 

EEPUBLIC   VERSUS   DEMOCRACY 

Representative  government  and  direct  government 
compared. 

The  Fathers  created  a  repubhc  and  not  a  de- 
mocracy. Before  you  dismiss  the  thought,  ex- 
amine your  dictionaries  again  and  settle  once  and 
forever  that  a  repubhc  is  a  government  where  the 
sovereignty  resides  in  the  citizens,  and  is  exer- 
cised through  representatives  chosen  by  the  citi- 
zens; while  a  democracy  is  a  government  where 
the  sovereignty  also  resides  in  the  citizens  but  is 
exercised  directly,  without  the  intervention  of 
representatives. 

Franklin  Henry  Giddings,  Professor  of  Soci- 
ology of  Columbia  University,  differentiates  be- 
tween democracy  as  a  form  of  government,  de- 
mocracy as  a  form  of  the  state,  and  democracy  as 
a  form  of  society.  He  says:  "Democracy  as  a 
form  of  government  is  the  actual  decision  of  every 
question  of  legal  and  executive  detail,  no  less  than 
of  every  question  of  right  and  policy,  by  a  direct 

13 


14  Vanishing  Landmarks 

popular  vote."  He  also  says:  "Democracy  as  a 
form  of  the  state  is  popular  sovereignty.  The 
state  is  democratic  when  all  its  people,  without 
distinction  of  birth,  class  or  rank,  participate  in 
the  making  of  legal  authority.  Society  is  demo- 
cratic only  when  all  people,  without  distinction 
of  rank  or  class,  participate  in  the  making  of  pub- 
lic opinion  and  of  moral  authority." 

The  distinction,  briefly  and  concisely  stated,  is 
this:  One  is  direct  government,  the  other  repre- 
sentative government.  Under  a  democratic  form 
of  government,  the  people  rule,  while  in  a  repub- 
lic they  choose  their  rulers.  In  democracies,  the 
people  legislate;  in  republics,  they  choose  legis- 
lators. In  democracies,  the  people  administer  the 
laws;  in  republics,  they  select  executives.  In 
democracies,  judicial  questions  are  decided  by 
popular  vote;  in  republics,  judges  are  selected, 
and  they,  and  they  only,  interpret  and  construe 
laws  and  render  judgments  and  decrees.  I  might 
add  that  in  republics  the  people  do  not  instruct 
their  judges,  by  referendum  or  otherwise,  how  to 
decide  cases.  Unless  the  citizens  respect  both  the 
forms  of  law  and  likewise  judicial  decisions,  there 
is  nothing  in  a  republic  worth  mentioning. 

When  we  speak  of  individuals  and  communi- 
ties as  being  democratic,  we  correctly  use  the 
term.    My  father's  family,  for  instance,  like  all 


Republic  versus  Democracy  15 

New  England  homes  of  that  period,  was  very 
democratic.  It  was  so  democratic  that  the  school 
teacher,  the  hired  man  and  the  hired  girl  ate  with 
the  family.  We  sat  at  a  common  fireside  and 
joined  in  conversation  and  discussed  all  ques- 
tions that  arose.  It  was  a  very  democratic  fam- 
ily ;  but  it  was  not  a  democracy.  My  father  man- 
aged that  household. 

In  very  recent  years  we  have  been  using  the 
word  "democracy"  when  we  have  meant  "repub- 
lic." This  flippant  and  unscientific  manner  of 
speaking  tends  to  lax  thinking,  and  is  fraught 
with  danger.  A  good  illustration  of  careless  dic- 
tion is  found  in  the  old  story  that  Noah  Webster 
was  once  overtaken  by  his  wife  while  kissing  the 
maid.  She  exclaimed:  "I  am  surprised!"  Where- 
upon the  great  lexicographer  rebuked  her  thus: 
"My  dear  Mrs.  Webster,  when  will  you  learn  to 
use  the  English  language  correctly?  You  are 
astonished.    I'm  surprised." 

It  is  a  well  known  fact  that  the  meaning  of 
words  change  with  usage.  Some  recent  editions 
of  even  the  best  dictionaries  give  democracy  sub- 
stantially the  same  definition  as  republic.  They 
define  a  republic  as  a  "representative  democ- 
racy" and  a  democracy  as  a  government  in  which 
the  people  rule  through  elected  representatives. 
This  gradual  change  in  the  meaning  of  the  word 


16  Vanishing  Landmarks 

would  be  perfectly  harmless  if  our  theory  of 
government  did  not  also  change.  Probably  our 
change  of  conception  of  representative  govern- 
ment is  largely  responsible  for  the  evolution  in 
the  popular  use  of  the  word  democracy. 

A  far  more  important  reason  why  the  term 
"democracy"  should  not  be  used  improperly  lies 
in  the  fact  that  every  bolshevist  in  Russia  and 
America,  every  member  of  the  I.  W.  W.,  in  the 
United  States,  as  well  as  socialists  everywhere, 
clamor  for  democracy.  All  of  these  people,  many 
of  them  good-intentioned  but  misguided,  under- 
stand exactly  what  they  mean  by  the  term.  They 
seek  no  less  a  democratic  form  of  government  as 
Professor  Giddings  defines  it,  than  a  democratic 
society  as  he  defines  that,  and  likewise  financial 
and  industrial  democracy.  They  want  not  only 
equality  before  the  law,  but  equality  of  environ- 
ment and  equality  of  rewards.  Only  socialists, 
near-socialists,  anarchists  and  bolsheviki  clamor 
for  "democracy."  Every  true  American  is  satis- 
fied with  representative  government,  and  that  is 
exactly  what  the  term  republic  means. 

EQUALITY 

The  expression,  "All  men  are  created  equal',' 
does  not  signify  equality  of  eyesight,  or  equality 
of  physical  strength  or  of  personal  comeliness. 


Republic  versus  Democracy  17 

Neither  does  it  imply  equal  aptitude  for  music, 
art  or  mechanics,  equal  business  foresight  or  ex- 
ecutive sagacity  or  statesmanship.  Equality  be- 
fore the  law  is  the  only  practicable  or  possible 
equality. 

Why  educate,  if  equality  in  results  is  to  be  the 
goal?  Why  practice  thrift,  or  study  efficiency, 
if  rewards  are  to  be  shared  independent  of  merit? 
Those  who  clamor  most  loudly  for  equality  of 
opportunity,  have  in  mind  equality  of  results, 
which  can  be  attained  only  by  denying  equality 
of  opportunity.  Equal  opportunity  in  a  foot  race 
is  secured  when  the  start  is  even,  the  track  kept 
clear  and  no  one  is  permitted  to  foul  his  neighbor. 
But  equality  of  results  is  impossible  between  con- 
testants of  unequal  aptitude  when  all  are  given 
equality  of  opportunity. 

The  kind  of  "democracy"  which  the  socialist 
and  the  anarchist  demand,  confessedly  hobbles  the 
fleet,  hamstrings  the  athletic  and  removes  all  in- 
centive to  efficiency.  The  keystone  of  representa- 
tive government  is  rewards  according  to  merit, 
and  the  buttresses  that  support  the  arch  are  free- 
dom of  action  on  the  one  side,  and  justice  accord- 
ing to  law  on  the  other. 

Republics  keep  a  one-price  store.  Whoever 
pays  the  price,  gets  the  goods.  Democracy,  on 
the  contrary,  expects  voluntary  toil,  popular  sac- 


18  Vanishing  JLandmarks 

rifices  and  then  proposes  to  distribute  the  result- 
ant good  either  pro  rata  or  indiscriminately^  No 
one  can  read  socialistic  literature  without  recog- 
nizing that  political,  social,  industrial  and  finan- 
cial democracy  is  the  goal  of  its  endeavor.  When 
the  supreme  conflict  comes  between  organized 
government,  organized  liberty,  organized  justice 
and  bolshevism  under  whatsoever  garb  it  may 
choose  to  masquerade,  I  do  not  intend  anyone 
shall  "shake  his  gory  head"  at  me  and  say  that  I 
helped  popularize  their  universal  slogan  and  in- 
ternational shibboleth.  Unless  we  speedily  give 
heed  we  shall  be  fighting  to  make  America  unsafe 
for  democracy.  Then  we  may  have  difficulty  in 
explaining  that  we  have  meant  all  these  years  a 
very  different  thing  than  our  language  has  ex- 
pressed. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  CONSTITUTIONAL  CONVENTION 

The  republican  character  of  the  constitutional 
convention,  the  qualifications  of  the  delegates,  and 
the  extent  to  which  they  trusted  to  the  wisdom  of 
the  people. 

The  Constitutional  Convention  was  a  republi- 
can body,  and  not  a  mass  meeting.  George  Wash- 
ington presided.  He  was  a  delegate  from  Vir- 
ginia. James  Madison  was  another  representa- 
tive from  the  same  state,  and  he  wrote  the  greater 
part  of  the  Constitution.  Thomas  Jefferson  was 
in  France,  and  had  nothing  whatever  to  do  with 
drafting  the  great  document,  or  in  securing  its 
aioption.  Benjamin  Franklin  was  a  delegate 
from  Pennsylvania.  Roger  Sherman  was  a  rep- 
resentative of  Connecticut.  New  York  sent  no 
delegate,  but  Alexander  Hamilton,  who  with 
George  Washington  had  early  recognized  that 
the  League  of  Nations,  or  League  of  Sovereign 
States,  which  means  the  same,  and  which  the  old 
Articles  of  Confederation  created,  was  proving 
an  utter  failure  in  practice,  and  had,  therefore, 

19 


20  Vanishing  Landmarks 

urged  from  the  beginning  "a  more  perfect 
union,"  attended  and  he  was  seated  as  a  delegate 
from  New  York.  His  matchless  vision  led  him 
to  seek  the  incorporation  of  additional  safeguards 
against  bolshevism,  as  it  is  now  called,  and  though 
his  advice  was  not  heeded  it  was  Hamilton,  more 
than  any  other  man,  with  John  Jay  and  James 
Madison  his  able  supporters,  who  secured  the  rati- 
fication of  the  Constitution  as  drafted. 

These,  and  the  other  delegates,  representing 
the  people  of  the  several  states,  after  much  delib- 
eration formulated  the  historic  document  begin- 
ning, "We  the  people."  It  provides  among  other 
things  that  its  ratification  by  delegated  conven- 
tions in  nine  of  the  thirteen  states  shall  make  it 
binding  upon  the  states  so  ratifying  the  same.  It 
also  provides  that  it  can  be  amended  in  a  similar 
delegated  convention  called  at  the  request  of 
chosen  representatives  in  the  legislatures  of  two- 
thirds  of  all  the  states,  or  by  joint  resolutions 
passed  by  two-thirds  of  the  representatives  of  the 
people,  in  Congress  assembled,  when  ratified  by 
representatives  of  the  people  in  three-fourths  of 
the  states,  in  their  respective  legislatures  assem- 
bled. 

Those  who  talk  about  "taking  the  government 
back  to  the  people"  would  do  well  to  remember 
that  the  American  people  have  never  voted  upon 


The  Constitutional  Convention  21 

any  provision  of  the  National  Constitution,  and 
there  is  no  way  provided  by  which  they  can,  in  any 
direct  way,  express  their  approval  or  disapproval. 
I  repeat,  the  Fathers  created  a  republic,  and  not 
a  democracy.  Washington  speaks  of  "the  dele- 
gated will  of  the  nation" — never  of  the  popular 
wish  of  the  people. 

THE  FATHERS  CONSULTED  HISTORY 

The  members  of  the  Constitutional  Convention 
were  worthy  of  their  seats.  They  were  men  of 
both  learning  and  experience.  They  had  read 
history.  They  knew  that  many  attempts  at  rep- 
resentative government  had  been  made  and  that 
all  had  failed.  They  also  knew  the  path  all  these 
republics  had  taken  on  their  waj^  to  oblivion. 
They  were  fully  alive  to  the  fact  that  the  first 
step  had  always  been  from  representative  govern- 
ment to  direct  government;  from  direct  govern- 
ment to  chaos,  from  chaos  to  the  man  on  horse- 
back— the  dictator ;  thence  to  monarchy.  The  dis- 
cussion in  the  convention  makes  it  abundantly 
clear  that  the  Fathers  sought  to  save  America 
from  the  monarch,  and  to  protect  her  from  the 
mass.  They  chose  the  middle  ground  between 
two  extremes,  both  fraught  with  danger.  " 

They  even  went  so  far  as  to  guarantee  that  no 
state  should  be  cursed  with  a  democratic  form  of 


22  Vanishing  Landmarks 

government,  or  a  monarchial  form  of  government 
or  any  other  kindred  system.  The  provision 
is  in  this  language:  "The  United  States  shall 
guarantee  to  every  state  in  this  Union  a  republi- 
can form  of  government."  That  excludes  every 
other  form. 

CONFIDENCE  IN  THE  PEOPLE  JUSTIFIED 

The  members  of  the  Constitutional  Conven- 
tion, having  been  selected  because  of  their  apti- 
tude for  public  matters,  their  knowledge  of  pub- 
lic questions  and  their  experience  in  public  affairs, 
very  naturally  had  confidence  that  men  of  like 
caliber  and  character  would  always  be  selected 
for  important  representative  positions.  They  be- 
lieved the  people  would  choose  legislators,  execu- 
tives and  judges  of  aptitude,  at  least,  and  would 
retain  them  in  office  until  they  attained  efficiency 
through  experience. 

Presumably  these  delegates  anticipated  that 
men  would  be  born  with  no  aptitude  for  public 
positions,  but  they  confidently  believed  even  these 
would  be  able  to  select  men  of  aptitude.  They 
may  have  realized  that  some  men  would  be  unfit 
for  Congress,  who,  nevertheless,  would  be  compe- 
tent to  select  able  congressmen.  For  these,  as 
well  as  for  other  reasons,  they  provided  no  way 
by  which  those  whom  no  one  would  think  of  send- 


The  Constitutional  Convention  23 

ing  to  Congress,  and  who  naturally  give  no  atten- 
tion to  public  affairs,  could  instruct  their  con- 
gressmen, who  alone  must  bear  the  responsibility 
of  legislation.  Had  such  a  thing  as  legislating 
by  referendum  been  thought  of  at  that  time,  the 
Fathers  certainly  would  have  expressly  prohib- 
ited it.  Legislation  by  representatives  was  con- 
sidered and  express  and  detailed  provision  there- 
for was  made. 

The  preceding  differentiation  between  repub- 
lic and  democracy  has  no  reference,  of  course,  to 
political  parties.  Long  before  the  republican 
party,  as  now  constituted,  had  an  existence,  dem- 
ocratic orators  grew  eloquent  over  "republican  in- 
stitutions," meaning  thereby  representative  insti- 
tutions. 

Every  protestant  church  in  America  is  a  re- 
public. Its  affairs  are  managed  by  representa- 
tives— by  boards.  Otherwise  there  would  be  no 
churches.  Every  bank  and  every  corporation  is 
a  republic,  managed  by  boards  and  officers  se- 
lected by  stockholders.  The  United  States  Steel 
Corporation,  for  instance,  is  analogous  to  a  repub- 
lic, the  stockholders  being  the  electors,  but  if  the 
stockholders  were  to  take  charge  of  that  corpora- 
tion, and  direct  its  management  by  initiative  or 
referendum,  it  would  be  in  the  hands  of  a  re- 
ceiver within  ninety  days. 


24  VanisJdn^  Landmarks 

The  United  States  of  America  is  a  great  Cor- 
poration, in  which  the  Stockholder  is  the  Elector. 
Stockholders  of  financial  and  industrial  corpora- 
tions desire  dividends,  which  are  paid  in  cash.  Not 
desiring  office,  the  stockholders  are  satisfied  to 
have  the  corporation  managed  by  representatives 
of  aptitude  and  experience.  The  dividends  paid 
by  political  corporations  like  the  United  States 
and  the  several  states  are  "liberty  and  the  pursuit 
of  happiness,"  "equality  before  the  law,"  an  army 
and  navy  for  national  defense,  and  courts  of  jus- 
tice for  the  enforcement  of  rights  and  the  redress 
of  wrongs.  But  stockholders  in  political  corpora- 
tions are  not  always  satisfied  with  these  returns. 
Some  prefer  office  to  dividends  payable  only  in 
blessings. 

In  banks  and  other  business  corporations, 
stockholders  are  apt  to  insist  that  representatives 
and  officers  who  show  aptitude  and  efficiency 
shall  be  continued  in  office  so  long  as  dividends 
are  satisfactory.  In  political  corporations  the 
people  have  recently  been  pursuing  a  very  differ- 
ent course.  They  have  been  changing  their  repre- 
sentatives so  frequently  that  efficiency,  which  re- 
sults only  from  experience,  is  impossible. 

While  stockholders  of  a  corporation  would 
certainly  wreck  the  institution  if  they  attempted 
to  manage  its  affairs  directly  or  by  referendum, 


The  Constitutional  Convention  25 

it  is  very  appropriate  for  stockholders,  acting 
on  the  recommendation  of  their  representatives 
— the  board  of  directors — to  determine  an  im- 
portant measure  hke  an  issue  of  bonds,  or 
whether  the  scope  and  purpose  of  the  concern 
shall  be  enlarged  or  its  capital  increased.  Anal- 
ogous to  this  is  the  determination  of  govern- 
mental policies  at  regular  elections  where  the 
people  choose  between  the  programs  of  different 
political  parties  as  set  forth  in  their  platforms. 
Thus  the  people  sometimes  ratify  the  policy  of 
protection,  and  sometimes  the  policy  of  free 
trade,  demonstrating  that  they  do  not  always  act 
wisely  by  frequently  reversing  themselves. 

Political  parties  usually  omit  from  their  plat- 
forms the  details  of  legislation.  The  only  ex- 
ception that  occurs  to  me  was  when  every  detail 
of  a  financial  policy  was  incorporated  in  the 
platform  submitted  for  ratification.  The  coin- 
age was  to  be  "free,"  it  was  to  be  "unlimited," 
and  at  the  "ratio  of  16  to  1."  If  the  people 
had  approved  this  at  the  polls  their  representa- 
tives would  have  had  no  discretion.  There 
would  have  been  no  room  for  compromise.  While 
the  people  are  presumably  competent  to  choose 
between  policies  recommended  in  the  platforms 
of  political  parties,  it  is  a  far  stretch  of  the 
imagination  to  suppose  that  the  average  citizen 


26  Vanisliing  JLandmarhs 

is  better  prepared  to  determine  the  details  of  a 
policy  than  the  man  he  selects  to  represent  him 
in  the  halls  of  Congress.  The  congressman  who 
concedes  that  his  average  constituent  is  better 
prepared  to  pass  upon  a  proposition  than  he  is 
necessarily  admits  in  the  same  breath  that  his 
district  committed  a  serious  blunder  in  sending 
him.  It  ought  to  have  selected  a  man  at  least 
of  average  intelligence. 

The  fact  that  neither  stockholders  en  masse, 
nor  employees  en  masse  are  able  to  manage  a  busi- 
ness enterprise  does  not  imply  that  the  principle 
of  a  republic  may  not  be  advantageously  applied 
to  industrial  concerns.  This  question  is  again 
referred  to  in  Chapter  xxx,  and  the  possible  safe, 
middle  course  between  the  industrial  autocracy 
demanded  by  capital,  and  the  industrial  democ- 
racy demanded  by  labor,  is  suggested  and  briefly 
discussed. 


CHAPTER  III 

STATESMEN  MUST  FIRST  BE  BORN  AND  THEN  MADE 

Some    fundamental    qualifications    for   statesman- 
ship.    Integrity  and  wisdom  compared. 

How  are  lawyers  obtained?  Admission  to  the 
bar  does  not  always  produce  even  an  attorney. 
And  there  is  a  very  marked  difference  between 
an  attorney  and  a  lawyer.  But  M-hen  a  young 
man  is  admitted  to  the  bar  who  has  aptitude  for 
the  law,  without  which  no  man  can  be  a  lawyer, 
industry  in  the  law,  without  which  no  man  ever 
was  a  lawyer,  then  with  some  years  of  appropri- 
ate environment — the  court  room  and  the  law 
library — a  lawyer  will  be  produced  into  whose 
hands  you  may  safely  commit  your  case. 

How  are  law  makers  obtained?  Many  seem 
to  think  it  only  necessary  to  deliver  a  certificate 
of  election,  and,  behold,  a  constructive  statesman, 
of  either  gender.  I  would  like  to  ask  whether,  in 
your  judgment,  it  requires  any  less  aptitude,  any 
less  industry,  or  a  less  period  of  appropriate  en- 
vironment to  produce  a  constructive  law  maker, 
than  to  develop  a  safe  law  practitioner. 

27 


28  Vanishins:  Landmarks 


H 


I  will  carry  the  illustration  one  step  further. 
Do  you  realize  that  it  would  be  far  safer  to 
place  the  man  of  ordinary  intelligence  upon  the 
bench,  with  authority  to  interpret  and  enforce  the 
laws  as  he  finds  them  written  in  the  book,  than  to 
give  him  pen  and  ink  and  let  him  draft  new  laws  ? 
We  all  recognize  that  it  requires  a  man  of  legal 
aptitude  and  experience  to  interpret  laws,  but 
some  seem  to  assume  neither  aptitude  nor  experi- 
ence is  necessary  in  a  law-maker.  If  legislators 
in  state  and  nation  are  to  be  abjectly  obedient  to 
the  wish  of  their  constituents,  what  use  can  they 
make  of  knowledge  and  judgment?  They  will 
prove  embarrassments,  will  they  not? 

To  interpret  the  laws  requires  aptitude  im- 
proved by  experience ;  it  demands  special  knowl- 
edge, both  of  the  general  law  and  of  the  particu- 
lar case  under  discussion.     It  takes  a  specialist. 

I  would  rather  have  the  ordinary  man  stand 
over  my  dentist  and  tell  him  how  to  crown  my 
tooth  than  to  have  him  stand  over  my  congress- 
man and  tell  him  how  to  vote.  He  knows,  in  a 
general  way,  how  a  tooth  should  be  crowned,  and 
further  than  that  I  refuse  to  carry  the  illustration. 
Then,  I  can  stand  a  bad  tooth  better  than  I  can 
a  bad  law.  No  man  ever  lost  his  job  because  of  a 
bad  tooth.  But  millions  have  stood  in  the  bread 
line,  and  other  millions  will  suffer  in  like  manner 


Statesmen  Must  First  Be  Born  29 

because  of  unfortunate  and  ill-considered  legis- 
lation. 

INTEGRITY  VERSUS  AVISDOM 

We  all  demand  integrity  in  office,  but  integrity 
is  the  most  common  attribute  of  man.  I  can  go 
on  the  street  and  buy  integrity  for  a  dollar  a  day, 
if  it  does  not  require  any  work ;  but  aptitude,  ex- 
perience and  wisdom  are  high-priced.  If  I  had  to 
choose  between  men  of  probity  but  wanting  in 
aptitude  and  experience,  and  men  of  aptitude  and 
experience  known  to  be  dishonest,  I  should  un- 
hesitatingly choose  the  crook  rather  than  the  fool ; 
either  for  bank  president  or  congressman.  Banks 
seldom  fail  because  of  dishonesty.  Banks  fail  be- 
cause of  bad  management.  The  thief  may  steal  a 
little  of  the  cream  but  the  careless  and  the  inex- 
perienced spill  the  milk. 

Thus  far  in  our  history  no  man  has  ever  walked 
the  street  in  vain  for  work,  no  man  has  gone  home 
to  find  his  wife  in  rags  and  his  children  crying  for 
bread,  because  of  dishonesty  in  public  office.  The 
United  States  can  stand  extravagance,  it  can 
stand  graft,  it  has  stood  and  is  standing  the  most 
reckless  abandon  in  all  its  financial  expenditures. 
The  worst  this  nation  has  yet  encountered — and 
may  the  good  Lord  save  us  from  anything  more 
dreadful — is  incompetency  in  the  halls  of  legis- 


30  Vanishing  Landmarks 

lation.  Extravagance  and  graft  stalk  forth  at 
noonday  when  incompetency  occupies  the  seats 
intended  for  statesmen. 

None  but  bolsheviki  would  consider  subjecting 
an  army  to  democratic  command.  The  person- 
nel of  an  army  may  possess  equal  patriotism  with- 
out possessing  equal  aptitude  for  war.  Recent 
experiences  have  only  emphasized  what  was  said 
more  than  a  thousand  years  ago :  "An  army  of 
asses  commanded  by  a  lion  will  overthrow  an 
army  of  lions  commanded  by  an  ass." 

Strange,  is  it  not,  that  every  one  should  recog- 
nize this  principle  when  applied  to  an  army  and 
to  business,  and  an  overwhelming  majority  over- 
look it  when  applied  to  governmental  matters? 


CHAPTER  IV 

EXPECTATIONS  REALIZED 

The  capacity  of  the  people  to  select  representa- 
tives wiser  than  their  constituents  illustrated  by 
historic  facts. 

America  has  passed  through  several  crises,  and 
each  time  has  been  saved  because  the  people's  rep- 
resentatives were  wiser  than  the  people.  In  this 
respect,  the  expectation  of  the  Fathers  has  been 
realized.    I  will  mention  but  three  instances. 

During  the  Civil  War  the  government  resorted 
to  the  issuance  of  paper  currency,  commonly- 
called  greenbacks.  While  conservative  people 
assumed  that  these  greenbacks  would  be  redeemed 
whenever  the  government  was  able,  nevertheless, 
there  being  no  express  provision  for  their  redemp- 
tion, they  went  to  depreciation,  and  passed  from 
hand  to  hand  far  below  par.  All  this  resulted  in 
inflation  which  inevitably  led  to  a  period  of 
depression. 

In  this  connection  it  is  well  to  remember  that 
whenever  we  have  had  a  period  of  depression,  and 
whenever   we   shall   have   such   a   period,   there 

31 


32  Vanishing  Landmarks 

always  has  been  and  ever  will  be  a  group  of  peo- 
ple with  a  panacea  for  our  ills.  During  the  period 
referred  to,  a  political  party,  calling  itself  the 
"Greenback  Party,"  came  into  existence  and  ad- 
vocated the  issuance  of  an  indefinite  volume  of 
irredeemable  paper  currency  which,  in  their  ig- 
norance, they  called  "money."  The  specious 
argument  was  to  the  effect  that  when  "money" 
can  be  made  on  a  printing  press,  it  is  silly  to  have 
less  than  enough.  They  expressly  advocated  issu- 
ing all  the  currency  the  people  could  use  without 
making  any  provision  for  its  retirement.  When- 
ever the  people  wanted  more,  they  proposed  to 
print  more. 

Fully  seventy-five  percent  of  the  American 
people,  without  regard  to  political  affiliation, 
favored  some  phase  or  degree  of  "greenbackism." 
While  much  of  this  sentiment  failed  of  crystalliza- 
tion, quite  a  number  of  congressmen  were  elected 
on  that  issue.  If  the  direct  primary  law,  with 
which  most  of  the  states  are  now  cursed,  had  been 
in  force  at  that  time,  it  is  probable  that  no  man 
could  have  been  nominated  for  Congress,  by  any 
party,  who  was  not  avowedly  in  favor  of  inflation 
by  some  method.  But  the  people  were  saved 
from  themselves  exactly  as  the  Fathers  had  an- 
ticipated. The  representatives  of  the  people, 
being  wiser  than  the  people,  refused  the  people 


Expectations  Realized  33 

what  most  of  them  desired  and  gave  them  what 
they  needed,  resmnption  of  specie  payment. 

Again,  in  the  '90's  we  had  a  period  of  depres- 
sion, and  the  panacea  then  recommended  was  the 
free  and  unhmited  coinage  of  silver,  at  the  ratio 
of  16  to  1  with  gold.  The  difference  between 
"greenbackism"  and  "free  silverism"  was  simply 
one  of  degree.  The  greenbacker  desired  the  gov- 
ernment to  print  the  dollar  mark  on  a  piece  of 
paper,  thus  producing  currency  one  hundred  per- 
cent fiat,  while  the  free  silverite  asked  that  the 
government  stamp  the  dollar  mark  upon  a  piece 
of  silver,  thus  producing  currency  fifty  percent 
fiat. 

Fully  nine-tenths  of  the  American  people  de- 
sired the  free  and  unlimited  coinage  of  silver. 
William  McKinley,  willing  as  he  was  to  run  for 
president  on  a  gold  standard  platform  in  1896, 
when  in  Congress  had  voted  for  a  clean-cut  free 
silver  measure.  The  lower  house  of  Congress 
actually  passed  a  free  silver  bill.  But,  exactly 
as  the  Fathers  expected,  the  people's  representa- 
tives in  the  Senate,  wiser  than  the  people  who  had 
placed  them  there,  refused  the  people  what  ninety 
percent  of  them  wanted  and  gave  them  what  one 
hundred  percent  needed — sound  money. 

Outside  of  Russia,  there  is  scarcely  a  man  in  all 
the  world  who  would  now  recommend  the  issu- 


34  Vanishing  Landmarks 


H 


ance  of  irredeemable  paper  currency,  what  three- 
fourths  of  the  American  people  wanted  in  the 
'70's;  and  there  is  not  more  than  one  man  in  all 
the  world  who  would  now  recommend  the  free 
coinage  of  silver,  what  four-fifths  of  the  Ameri- 
can people  wanted  in  the  '90's. 

The  direct  primary  in  1896  would  have  nomi- 
nated a  free  silver  republican,  and  a  free  silver 
democrat  in  each  and  every  congressional  district 
of  the  United  States,  and  we  would  have  had  a 
solid  free  silver  House.  If  the  United  States 
senators  had  been  then  elected  by  the  people,  pre- 
ceded by  a  direct  primary,  the  Senate  of  the 
United  States  would  have  been  solidly  for  free  sil- 
ver; and  we  would  have  passed,  as  everyone  now 
recognizes,  to  financial  ruin.  We  were  saved,  be- 
cause the  United  States  of  America  was  a  repub- 
lic and  not  a  democracy — because,  if  you  please, 
we  had  representative  and  not  direct  government. 

More  recently,  Germany  and  the  Central  Pow- 
ers made  war  upon  the  United  States.  This  they 
continued  for  more  than  two  years.  Finally,  the 
President,  in  his  message  of  April  2,  1917,  ad- 
vised Congress  to  "declare  the  course  of  the  Im- 
perial German  Government  to  be,  in  fact,  nothing 
less  than  war  against  the  country  and  the  people 
of  the  United  States."  A  resohition  to  that  effect 
was  thereupon  passed  on  April  6,  1917. 


Expectations  Realized  35 

If  the  proposition  of  going  to  war  with  Ger- 
many had  been  submitted  to  a  direct  vote  of  the 
American  people,  under  a  referendum,  they 
would  have  voted  against  it,  two  to  one,  and  in 
many  localities  and  cities,  four  to  one.  Again 
we  were  saved,  because  we  had  a  republican  and 
not  a  democratic  form  of  government.  We  were 
saved  because  our  representatives  proved  wiser 
than  their  constituents. 


CHAPTER  V 

INDEPENDENCE  OF  THE  REPRESENTATIVE 

The  effect  of  popular  instructions  to  representa- 
tives discussed  and  illustrated. 

The  Fathers  never  intended  that  the  people 
should  legislate,  interpret  the  laws  or  administer 
justice.  They  did  provide,  however,  that  the 
people  should  choose  their  legislators,  their 
judges  and  their  executives.  They  sought  also  to 
render  impossible  any  interference  with  the  inde- 
pendence of  these  representatives.  Judges  are 
not  expected  to  inquire  of  bystanders  how  ques- 
tions of  law  shall  be  decided,  or  what  decrees  shall 
be  rendered,  or  what  punishments  imposed. 

The  Fathers  did  not  anticipate  that  executives 
would  hold  their  ears  so  close  to  the  ground  as  to 
become  nests  for  crickets.  I  do  not  mean  to  be 
understood,  however,  as  intimating  that  the  buzz- 
ing of  insects  has  never  been  mistaken  for  the 
voice  of  the  people.  Members  of  the  House  and 
the  Senate  were  not  supposed  to  conform  to  Doo- 
ley's  definition  of  a  statesman:  "One  who  watches 

36 


Independence  of  the  Representative        37 

the  procession  until  he  discovers  in  which  direc- 
tion it  is  moving  and  then  steals  the  stick  from 
the  drmn  major."  The  Fathers  expected  officials 
to  be  as  independent  of  the  voters  who  select  them 
as  officers  of  a  corporation  are  independent  of 
stockholders. 

In  proof  that  Washington  did  not  consider 
the  delegates  to  the  Constitutional  Convention 
bound  to  follow  the  wishes  of  the  people  they 
represented  I  cite  what  Gouverneur  Morris 
quotes  him  as  saying:  "It  is  too  probable  that 
no  plan  we  propose  will  be  adopted.  Perhaps 
another  dreadful  conflict  is  to  be  sustained. 
If  to  please  the  people  we  offer  what  we  our- 
selves disapprove,  how  can  we  afterward  defend 
our  work?  Let  us  raise  a  standard  to  which 
the  wise  and  the  honest  can  repair;  the  event 
is  in  the  hand  of  God." 

Suppose  the  state  should  engage  in  banking. 
A  doorkeeper,  a  bookkeeper  and  a  president 
would  be  necessary.  But  if  the  president  sought 
instruction  from  the  street,  the  bank  Avould  be 
short-lived.  If  a  body  of  stockholders  were  to 
enter  a  bank,  as  now  operated,  and  demand  a  loan 
without  security,  either  for  themselves  or  for  some 
needy  fellow  creature,  the  president  would  prob- 
ably say,  "You  can  have  another  president  any 
day  you  please,  but  while  I  am  president,  you  will 

144327 


38  Vanishing  Landmarks 

furnish  collateral."     Otherwise,  there  would  be 
no  bank. 

L.  Q.  C.  Lamar  used  to  say  to  his  constituents: 
"If  you  desire  me  to  represent  you  in  Congress,  I 
will  do  so."  Then,  with  becoming  dignity  and  in 
absolute  harmony  with  the  principles  of  the  re- 
pubhc,  as  established  by  the  Fathers,  he  would 
add,  "But  do  not,  for  a  moment,  suppose  you  can 
stand  between  the  plow  handles  during  the  day 
and  tell  me  how  to  vote."  Evidently  Mr.  Lamar 
expected  to  study  public  questions  and  to  be  bet- 
ter informed  than  his  average  constituent. 

Later,  the  legislature,  recognizing  his  ability, 
sent  him  to  the  United  States  Senate.  Here  he 
opposed  greenback  legislation  which  was  favor- 
ably considered  by  the  people  of  Mississippi. 
Thereupon  the  legislature  passed  a  resolution  de- 
manding either  that  he  vote  in  harmony  with  the 
sentiment  of  his  state,  or  resign.  He  refused  to 
do  either,  but  continued  to  speak,  and  to  vote 
his  convictions  based  on  knowledge.  Before  his 
term  expired,  the  wisdom  of  his  course  was  recog- 
nized and  he  was  re-elected  to  the  Senate  by  the 
very  men  who  had  sought  to  direct  his  action  in 
a  matter  wherein  they  had  no  jurisdiction  and  he 
had  supreme  responsibility,  and  concerning  which 
they  knew  nothing,  while  he  knew  much. 

Following  the  Civil  War  impeachment  pro- 


Independence  of  the  Representative       39 

ceedings  were  instituted  against  Andrew  John- 
son. Because  of  the  known  prejudices  of  the  peo- 
ple of  Iowa,  Senator  Grimes  of  that  state  was  ex- 
pected to  vote  "guilty."  He  voted  "not  guilty,'* 
and  his  colleague  asked  him,  "Do  you  think  you 
are  expressing  the  sentiment  of  the  people  of 
Iowa?"  The  grand  old  Roman  replied :  "I  have 
not  inquired  concerning  the  sentiment  of  the  peo- 
ple of  Iowa.  I  vote  my  convictions."  That  would 
be  political  suicide  today. 

A  few  years  ago  proceedings  to  expel  a  certain 
senator  were  pending  and  several  of  his  associates, 
after  hearing  the  evidence  submitted  to  them  in 
their  judicial  capacity,  expressed  the  conviction 
that  the  accused  was  innocent,  but,  because  of  the 
prejudices  of  their  states,  they  would  have  to  vote 
for  expulsion.  Senator  Depew  told  me  of  a  mem- 
ber who  actually  cried  as  he  contemplated  voting 
to  expel  a  man  whom  he  believed  to  be  innocent. 

I  would  like  to  ask  how  long  you  think  the. 
United  States  of  America  can  maintain  her  proud 
position  among  the  nations  of  the  world,  if  oath- 
bound  representatives  of  the  people  accept  pop- 
ular sentiment  as  the  guide  of  their  official  con- 
duct. 

At  the  unveiling  of  the  monument  to  Elijah 
Love  joy,  a  letter  was  read  from  Wendel  Phillips 
containing  this  sentence:  "How  cautiously  most 


40  Vanishing  L,andinarhs 

slip  into  oblivion  and  are  forgotten,  wliile  here 
and  there  a  man  forgets  himself  into  immortal- 
ity." In  these  most  trying  times  our  greatest 
need  is  men  in  public  hfe  whose  ears  are  always 
open  to  counsel  but  ever  closed  to  clamor — who 
will  approach  pending  problems  that  threaten  our 
very  existence,  with  no  other  care  but  their  coun- 
try's weal.  The  corner  stone  of  freedom,  as  laid 
by  the  Fathers,  is  the  absolute  independence  of 
the  representative,  coupled  with  the  unimpeded 
right  of  the  people  to  choose  again  at  brief  but 
appropriate  intervals. 

HOW  WOULD  YOU  BUILD  A  SUBMARINE? 

Suppose  the  government  should  delegate  to 
some  congressional  district  the  responsibility  of 
building  a  submarine.  Would  anyone  think  of 
undertaking  the  task  except  on  the  principle  of 
a  republic?  You  would  select  some  man  of  me- 
chanical aptitude,  plus  mechanical  experience, 
and  you  would  hold  him  responsible  for  the  result. 
Would  you  require  your  representative  when  se- 
lected to  listen  to  popular  sentiment,  as  expressed 
on  the  street  corners  or  in  the  press  ?  Would  you 
have  liim  submit  his  plans  and  blue  prints  to  the 
"people,"  by  referendum  or  otherwise? 

We  all  admit  that  some  men  know  more  about 
farming  tlkan  others,  some  more  about  commerce 


Independence  of  the  Representative       41 

than  others,  some  more  about  science  than  others, 
but  the  sentiment  is  alarmingly  general  that  in  the 
realm  of  statecraft—the  most  complex  subject 
ever  approached — one  man  is  just  as  wise  as 
another.  At  Detroit,  Michigan,  during  the  cam- 
paign of  1916,  Woodrow  Wilson  used  this  lan- 
guage: "So  I  say  the  suspicion  is  beginning  to 
dawn  in  many  quarters,  that  the  average  man 
knows  the  business  necessities  of  the  country  just 
as  well  as  the  extraordinary  man." 

I  do  not  wish  to  question  Mr.  Wilson's  sin- 
cerity, though  I  am  not  unmindful  of  the  fact  that 
he  spent  the  greater  part  of  his  active  life  in  col- 
lege work  trying  to  produce  "extraordinary 
men,"  and  in  that  field  he  was  quite  successful. 
Taking  issue  with  his  position,  but  not  with  his 
sincerity,  I  am  going  to  insult  popular  sentiment 
and  say  that  I  believe  there  are  many  men  compe- 
tent to  select  a  competent  constructor  of  a  subma- 
rine, who  are  not  competent  to  construct  a  sub- 
marine, or  competent  to  instruct  a  constructor  of 
a  submarine. 

But,  suppose  the  people  should  build  such  a 
craft  on  the  principle  of  a  democracy,  each  one 
doing  what  seemed  to  him  wise,  without  dishon- 
esty or  graft.  I  have  no  question  but  that  a  sub- 
marine would  be  produced  that  would  "sub,"  and 
I  am  equally  certain  that  it  would  stay  "subbed." 


42  Vanishing  Land^narks 

I  want  to  ask  whether,  in  your  opinion,  the  ship 
of  state — the  government  of  the  United  States — 
is  any  less  compHcated,  any  less  complex  or  any 
less  likely  to  "sub"  and  stay  "subbed,"  exactly  as 
each  and  every  republic  for  twenty-five  hundred 
years  did  "sub" — if  placed  in  the  hands  of  an  in- 
experienced mass  of  experimenters  in  statecraft. 

Think  this  out  for  yourself.  This  is  your  gov- 
ernment quite  as  much  as  mine,  and  it  will  be  your 
government  long  after  the  conservative  "Old 
Guard"  have  left  the  field  of  human  activities. 


CHAPTER  VI 

TREND  OF  THE  TIMES 

A  consideration  of  the  constitutional  guarantee 
that  each  state  shall  have  a  republican  form  of 
government,  and  the  warning  of  Washington 
against  making  changes  in  the  constitution. 

Both  the  trend  of  thought  and  the  current  of 
events  are  away  from  representative  government 
and  toward  direct  government. 

Legislating  by  initiative  or  by  referendum,  the 
recall  of  judges,  and  especially  the  recall  of  judi- 
cial decisions,  come  dangerously  near  constituting 
a  democratic  form  of  government,  against  which 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  guarantees. 
Its  language  you  remember :  "The  United  States 
shall  guarantee  to  everj^  state  in  this  Union  a 
republican  form  of  government." 

Chief  Justice  Taney,  interpreting  this  section, 
said:  "It  rests  with  Congress  to  decide  what 
government  is  the  established  one  in  a  state,  for, 
as  the  United  States  guarantees  to  each  state  a 
republican  form  of  government,  Congress  must 
necessarily  decide  what  government  is  established 

43 


44  Vanishins:  Landmarks 


H 


in  the  state  before  it  can  determine  whether  it  is 
repubhcan  or  not."^ 

Chief  Justice  Waite  used  the  following  lan- 
guage, the  vital  sentence  of  which  I  have  itali- 
cized: "All  the  states  had  governments  when  the 
Constitution  was  adopted.  In  all,  the  people  par- 
ticipated, to  some  extent,  through  their  represen- 
tatives selected  in  the  manner  specially  provided. 
These  governments  the  Constitution  did  not 
change.  They  were  accepted  precisely  as  they 
were  and  it  is  therefore  to  be  presumed  that  they 
were  such  as  it  is  the  duty  of  the  states  to  provide. 
Thus,  we  have  unmistakable  evidence  of  what  was 
republican  in  form  within  the  meaning  of  that 
term  as  employed  in  the  Constitution."" 

It  is  well  to  note  that  this  participation  in  their 
government,  which  the  learned  Chief  Justice  men- 
tions, was  "through  their  representatives^'  and  in 
no  other  way. 

More  than  one  state  has  been  required  to 
change  its  constitution  before  admission  into  the 
Union.  Congress  refused  to  admit  Arizona  un- 
der a  constitution  providing  for  the  recall  of 
judges  and  judicial  decisions.  It  smacked  too 
strongly  of  direct  government.    After  her  admis- 

^Luther  vs.  Borden,  7  Howard  1. 
'Minar  vs.  Happersatt,  21  Wall  112. 


Trend  of  the  Times  45 

sion,  however,  she  amended  her  constitution  and 
inserted  the  sociahstic — the  "democratic" — provi- 
sions, the  ehmination  of  which  Congress  had  made 
a  condition  precedent  to  admission. 

In  his  work,  "The  State,"  Woodrow  Wilson 
calls  attention  to  the  fact  that  constitution-mak- 
ing is  fast  becoming  "a  cumbrous  mode  of  legis- 
lation." The  record  in  many  states  justifies  this 
comment. 

At  the  election  of  1918,  in  the  state  of  Califor- 
nia there  were  submitted  through  referendum 
nineteen  proposed  amendments  to  its  constitution, 
no  one  of  which  legitimately  belongs  in  a  constitu- 
tion. They  were  simply  legislative  acts  sought  to 
be  inserted  in  the  organic  law,  or  state  charter, 
for  the  sole  purpose  of  rendering  them  more  diffi- 
cult of  repeal  when  proved  bad.  The  "people" 
had  so  little  confidence  in  themselves  that  they; 
deemed  it  imprudent  to  trust  to  their  wisdom 
whether  a  law  should  be  continued  when  found 
beneficial  or  repealed  when  its  effects  were  evil, 
and  hence  sought  to  tie  their  own  hands  by  placing 
the  act  in  the  constitution  instead  of  in  the  revised 
statutes. 

George  Washington,  with  prophetic  vision, 
foresaw  and  in  his  immortal  Farewell  Address 
warned  against  this  tendency  towards  evolution- 
ary revolution  and  employed  this  language,  the 


46  Vanishing  Landmarks 

list  sentence  of  which  I  feel  certain  he  would 
today  italicize: 

"Towards  the  preservation  of  your  government 
and  the  permanency  of  your  present  happy  state, 
it  is  requisite  not  only  that  you  speedily  discoun- 
tenance irregular  opposition  to  its  acknowledged 
authorit}^  but  also  that  you  resist  with  care  the 
spirit  of  innovation  upon  its  princij^les,  however 
si)ecious  the  pretext.  One  method  of  assault  may 
he  to  effect  in  the  forms  of  the  Constitution  alter- 
ations which  will  impair  the  energy  of  the  system 
and  thus  to  undermine  what  cannot  he  directly 
overthrown" 

This  trend  towards  a  democratic  form  of  gov- 
ernment, or  direct  government,  finds  fitting  illus- 
tration in  the  fact  that  if  you  were  to  locate  a 
homestead  in  any  one  of  several  states,  prove  up 
and  secure  your  patent,  and  someone  should  con- 
test your  title,  and  the  court  should  find  the  land 
belonged  to  you,  and  should  render  decision  ac- 
cordingly, the  people  might  reverse  this  decree 
and  give  the  land  to  the  contestant.  It  is  not  a 
question  whether  they  are  likely  to  do  such  a 
thing.  The  fact  that  the  people  in  several  states 
have  deliberately  provided  the  machinery  by 
which  they  can  thus  defeat  justice,  constitutes  a 
perpetual  menace  that  should  adversely  affect  the 
market  value  of  all  real  estate  in  those  states. 


Trend  of  the  Times  47 

When  title  to  property  is  made  to  rest  upon  the 
sentimental  whim  of  the  masses,  as  distin- 
guished from  a  decree  of  court,  liberty  itself  is 
rendered  unstable  and  organized  government  is 
abandoned  and  socialism  is  substituted. 


CHAPTER  VII 

CONSTITUTIONAL  LIBERTY 

The  necessity  for  organized  government  and 
organized  justice  as  a  guarantee  of  constitutional 
liberty  is  sought  to  be  shown.  Plato's  dream, 
Macaulay's  dire  prediction  and  a  threat. 

A  democratic  form  of  government  precludes 
the  possibility  of  constitutional  liberty.  Consti- 
tutional liberty  does  exist  in  what  Professor 
Giddings  calls  a  "democratic  state,"  but  cannot 
in  what  the  same  author  calls  a  "democratic 
form  of  government."  His  admittedly  correct 
differentiation  cannot  be  too  often  repeated. 

"A  democratic  state,"  says  this  liigh  authority, 
"is  popular  sovereignty,"  while  "a  democratic 
form  of  government  is  the  actual  decision  of  every 
question  of  legal  and  executive  detail  by  a  direct 
popular  vote.'* 

I  grant  the  formality  of  a  constitution  may 
exist  under  a  democratic  form  of  government,  but 
where  all  functions  of  government  are  exercised 
directly  by  the  people,  necessarily  there  can  be  no 
tribunal  to  enforce  the  provisions  of  a  constitu- 
tion.   Let  me  illustrate. 

48 


Constitutional  Liberty  49 

Suppose,  if  you  will,  that  an  uninhabited  island 
has  been  discovered,  and  a  government  is  about 
to  be  formulated  preliminary  to  its  occupation. 
Undoubtedly,  we  would  agree  that  the  sover- 
eignty of  the  island  should  be  vested  in  the  peo- 
ple. This,  according  to  Professor  Giddings, 
would  make  it  a  "democratic  state."  The  next 
question  would  be  whether  this  sovereignty  would 
be  exercised  directly  or  through  representatives. 
Shall  it  be  a  democratic  form  of  government,  or 
a  republican  form  of  government  ? 

Someone  would  propose  that  a  majority  should 
rule.  If  I  were  present,  I  would  promptly  sug- 
gest that  the  rights  of  majorities  always  have 
been,  and  always  will  be,  secure.  Minorities,  not 
majorities,  need  protection.  I  would  ask  what 
protection  is  to  be  given  me,  or  anyone  who  may 
prove  an  undesirable  citizen.  Will  we  be  thrown 
into  jail  and  kept  there  indefinitely,  without  trial 
and  without  knowing  the  cause  of  our  incarcera- 
tion? Such  wrongs  were  common  for  centuries 
and  are  perpetrated  by  bolshevists,  and  defended 
by  socialists  today.  Very  likely  the  assembly 
would  then  promise  a  speedy  trial,  with  right  to 
summon  witnesses,  and  to  be  confronted  by  one's 
accusers,  and  other  safeguards  of  liberty  such  as 
are  now  guaranteed  in  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  and  that  of  every  state. 


50  Vanishing  JLandmarks 

But  this  would  not  satisfy  me.  I  would  ask 
"How  do  I  know  that  this  promise  will  be  kept?" 
Then,  doubtless,  the  right  to  a  writ  of  habeas 
corpus  would  be  promised.  And  this  would  not 
satisfy  me.  I  would  ask:  "By  whom  will  it  be 
issued,  and  by  whom  enforced?"  Before  we  were 
through,  it  is  quite  probable  we  would  create  a 
tribunal,  clothe  it  with  greatest  dignity,  segregate 
it  from  the  affairs  of  business  and  safeguard  it 
against  political  influence,  and  for  want  of  a  bet- 
ter name,  we  would  call  it  "The  Supreme  Court 
of  the  Island."  This  court  would  be  clothed  with 
authority  to  grant  and  enforce  not  only  writs  of 
habeas  corpus  but  any  and  all  other  orders  and 
decrees  and  judgments  necessary  to  protect  the 
minority,  even  though  a  minority  of  one,  in  his 
every  constitutional  right. 

TREASON   AS  AN    ILLUSTRATION 

Treason  is  the  only  crime  defined  in  the  Con- 
stitution. Prior  to  the  year  1352  there  was  great 
uncertainty  in  England  as  to  what  constituted 
treason,  and  Parhament,  for  the  purpose  of  re- 
straining the  power  of  the  Crown  to  oppress  the 
subject  by  arbitrary  construction,  passed,  in  that 
year,  what  is  commonly  known  as  the  "Statute  of 
Treason."  All  acts  that  might  be  construed  trea- 
sonable were  classified  under  seven  branches.  The 


Constitutional  Libert?/  51 

framers  of  the  Constitution,  desiring  to  protect 
the  minoritj^  chose  only  one  of  the  seven  and 
placed  a  perpetual  bar  against  any  other  act  being 
made  treason,  and  further  safeguarded  the 
minority  by  defining  the  only  basis  of  convic- 
tion.    Section  3,  Article  III,  is  as  follows: 

"Treason  against  the  United  States  shall  con- 
sist only  in  levying  war  against  them,  or  in  adher- 
ing to  their  enemies,  giving  them  aid  and  com- 
fort. No  person  shall  be  convicted  of  treason 
unless  on  the  testimony  of  two  witnesses  to  the 
same  overt  act,  or  on  confession  in  open  court." 

Now,  suppose  confiscationists,  whether  styling 
themselves  socialists,  bolsheviki,  single-taxers,  or 
non-partisan  leaguers,  shall  get  control  and,  by 
referendum,  extend  the  scope  of  treason  to  in- 
clude such  offenses  as  claiming  title  to  real  estate, 
which  all  the  breed  insist  rightfully  belongs  to  the 
people  en  masse.  Far  less  degrees  of  what  they 
consider  "crime"  were  made  punishable  by  death 
when  democracy  went  mad  in  France.  Of  what 
use  would  the  express  provisions  of  the  Constitu- 
tion be  if  the  power  to  recall  decisions,  as  well  as 
the  judges  who  render  them,  is  to  be  exercised  by 
the  mass? 

Leave  it  to  the  people  to  afford  protection  from 
the  people  and  you  might  just  as  well  abolish  all 
constitutional  guarantees.    Were  the  people  en 


52  Vanishing  Landmarks 

masse  to  make  the  laws,  eii  masse  to  interpret  the 
laws,  and  en  masse  to  enforce  the  laws,  the  indi- 
vidual would  have  no  rights  that  the  people  en 
masse  would  be  bound  to  respect. 

SOVIET  RUSSIA  AND  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

In  a  widely  circulated  pamphlet,  "A  Voice  Out 
of  Russia,"  the  author  speaks  of  "a  certain  divine 
sense  in  which  the  Russian  revolution  parallels 
the  revolt  of  the  thirteen  American  colonies,  and 
in  which  the  proletariat  of  Russia  is  striving  to 
accomplish  for  his  world  much  the  same  ideals 
which  our  forefathers  laid  down  for  theirs. 
There  was,"  he  says,  "more  of  the  spirit  of  the 
people,  more  of  faith  and  dependence  in  the  pro- 
letariat, in  American  revolutionary  doctrines, 
than  we  seem  disposed  to  admit  today ;  and  by  the 
same  token,  it  is  because  we  have  lost  our  sense 
of  fundamental  democracy  that  we  do  not  care  to 
admit  it." 

"Fundamental  democracy"  is  the  correct  term. 
But  we  have  not  lost  it.  We  are  simply  in  danger 
of  getting  it.  It  is  exactly  what  the  Fathers 
sought  to  eliminate  and  prevent. 

On  the  next  page  of  the  pamphlet,  the  author 
says :  "The  writers  of  the  American  Constitution 
certainly  strove  to  do  away  with  the  artificial  com- 
plexities of  politics,  and  to  bring  every  function 


Constitutional  Lihertij  53 

of  government  within  the  grasp  and  comprehen- 
sion of  the  whole  electorate." 

I  submit  that  that  is  exactly  what  the  framers 
of  the  Constitution  did  not  seek  to  do.  They  cre- 
ated representative  government  and  sought  to 
guard  against  direct  government.  The  author 
quoted,  and  every  other  teacher  of  revolution, 
either  by  peaceful  or  violent  means,  is  seeking  to 
establish  direct  government.  When  they  use  the 
word  "democracy,"  they  use  it  in  its  dictionary 
sense.  They  use  it  as  Rousseau,  Robespierre, 
Lenine,  Trotsky  and  a  very  large  number  of 
others,  including  some  widely  known  Americans, 
use  it.  Why  do  liberty-loving  Americans  seek 
to  divorce  the  word  "democracy"  from  its  original 
meaning  and  popularize  the  greatest  enemy  lib- 
erty has  ever  known  ? 

PLATO^S  DEEAM 

One  of  the  best  and  most  conservative  news- 
papers in  the  United  States  printed  late  in  1918 
a  carefully  written  editorial  under  the  above  title, 
from  which  I  quote  a  few  disconnected  sentences, 
italicizing  the  most  important: 

"Twenty-five  hundred  years  ago  in  Athens, 
Plato,  the  philosopher,  who  is  called  the  'father 
of  idealists,'  framed  the  structure  of  an  ideal  gov- 
ernment among  men,  in  the  form  of  a  republic. 


54  Vanishing  Landmarks 

.  .  .  .  When  the  dust  of  Plato  was  gathered 
into  a  Grecian  urn,  his  dream  did  not  die.  The 
generations  harbored  and  treasured  it.  Time 
after  time,  and  in  place  after  place,  republics  were 
formed.  ^len  gave  their  blood  and  their  lives  to 
realize  the  dream  of  Plato.  But  always  might 
prevailed  over  them.  Only  America  endured  to 
make  the  dream  come  true.  In  these  times  there 
are  numerous  republics  but  there  is  not  one  among 
them  that  does  not  owe  its  existence  to  the  exam- 
ple and  the  influence  of  the  United  States.  Were 
our  republic  to  crumble,  every    other    on    earth 

would  crumble  with  it Since  the 

adoption  of  the  Constitution  in  1789,  one  hundred 
and  thirty  years  have  passed  and  during  that  time 
America  has  met  and  overcome  every  trial  to 
which  the  ideal  republic  could  possibly  be  sub- 
jected. It  has  answered  every  argument  against 
a  republican  form  of  government  advanced  by  the 
most  stubborn  objectors." 

The  foregoing  is  historically  correct  except  the 
last  two  sentences.  America  has  stood  every  test 
except  that  which  ruined  every  other  republic.  It 
has  not  yet  encountered  direct  government,  to- 
wards which  we  seem  radically  tending.  It  has 
not  withstood  what  Lord  Macauley,  a  century 
ago,  predicted  would  prove  our  overthrow.  He 
declared  the  republic  was  "all  sail  and  no  ballast." 


Constitutional  Libertij  55 

He  predicted  great  speed  for  a  period;  but  he 
warned  against  the  day  when  those  who  did  not 
have  breakfast  and  did  not  expect  dinner  would 
elect  our  congress  and  our  president.  The 
demagogue  would  be  abroad  in  the  land  and  he 
would  say:  "Why  do  these  have  and  you  suffer?" 

"Your  republic  will  be  pillaged  and  ravaged  in 
the  20th  century,  just  as  the  Roman  Empire  was 
by  the  barbarians  of  the  fifth  century,  with  this 
diff*erence,  that  the  devastators  of  the  Roman 
Empire,  the  Huns  and  Vandals,  came  from 
abroad,  while  your  barbarians  will  be  the  people 
of  your  own  country,  and  the  product  of  your  own 
institutions." 

If  "Coxie's  army"  had  been  led  by  Eugene 
Debs,  or  any  one  of  more  than  a  score  whose 
names  are  revered  by  many,  instead  of  by  a 
patriotic  American,  every  mile  of  the  road  over 
which  it  traveled  would  have  reeked  with  human 
gore.  Had  it  resorted  to  bloodshed  at  that  time, 
however,  it  would  not  have  proceeded  far.  But 
socialism  has  made  great  progress  since  1895. 

Speaking  before  a  Senate  committee  early  in 
January  of  this  year,  the  president  of  the  Amer- 
ican Federation  of  Labor  is  reported  to  have  said : 
"The  people  will  not  countenance  industrial  stag- 
nation after  the  war.  There  can  be  no  repetition 
in  the  United  States  of  the  conditions  that  pre- 


56  Vanishing  Landmarks 

vailed  from  1893  to  1896  when  men  and  women 
were  hungry  for  the  want  of  employment." 

The  same  veiled  threat  has  been  uttered  repeat- 
edly by  men  high  in  official  position. 

Are  we  face  to  face  with  a  condition  and  not 
a  theory?  Will  laborers  revolt  if  they  fail  to  se- 
cure employment,  or  when  compelled  to  accept  a 
lesser  wage  ?  Will  farmers  turn  anarchist  if  they 
can  find  no  market  for  their  crops,  or  when  com- 
pelled to  accept  a  lesser  price?  Will  bankers 
become  bomb  throwers  if  unloanable  funds  accu- 
mulate? No,  America  has  not  withstood  every 
trial  to  which  she  can  possibly  be  subjected.  The 
supreme  menace  stands  today  with  gnashing 
teeth,  glaring  into  our  faces. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

WHAT  IS  A  CONSTITUTION? 

The  nature  of  the  constitution  and  the  depend- 
ence of  the  minority  thereon  and  hence  the  neces- 
sity for  an  independent  judiciary  discussed  and 
illustrated. 

A  constitution  is  little  less  than  a  firm  and 
binding  contract  between  the  majority  and  the 
minority,  entered  into  for  the  sole  protection  of 
the  minority,  with  regularly  constituted  courts  to 
enforce  its  provisions. 

The  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  from 
which  every  root  of  the  Judiciary  Department — 
one  of  the  three  coordinate  branches  of  govern- 
ment— derives  its  vitality,  is  our  only  continuing 
and  unchanging  bulwark  of  liberty. 

The  executive  branch,  from  President  down 
through  all  the  departments.  State,  Treasury, 
War  and  Navy,  is  Hable  to  radical  change  on  the 
fourth  day  of  March  every  four  years.  Either 
house  and  both  houses  of  Congress  frequently 
change  in  partisan  complexion  at  a  single  election. 
The  Supreme  Court,  the  members  of  which  hold 

57 


58  Vanishing  Landmarks 

by  life  tenure,  remains,   theoretically,  at  least, 
unchanged. 

Unless  the  people  undermine  their  liberties  by 
"effecting  in  the  forms  of  the  Constitution  altera- 
tions which  will  impair  the  energy  of  the  system," 
wliich  Washington  warned  against,  or  unless  some 
executive  corrupts  the  personnel  of  the  Supreme 
Court  by  filling  vacancies  with  socialists,  or  other 
revolutionary  elements,  Anglican  liberty,  the 
hope  of  the  world,  is  secured  in  America  against 
everything  except  bolshevism.  With  respect  to 
the  courts,  Washington's  famous  order  is  perti- 
nent: "Place  none  but  Americans  on  guard 
tonight." 

WHO  IS  AN  AMERICAN? 

Who  is  an  American,  worthy  to  be  placed  on 
guard  tonight?  Is  he  American  born?  He  may 
be,  and  he  may  have  been  born  beneath  any  flag 
and  under  any  sky.  An  American  is  one  who 
beheves  in  and  is  ready  to  defend  this  repuhlic. 
To  be  ready  to  defend  our  territory,  or  even  our 
flag,  is  not  enough. 

Though  we  continue  our  socialistic  bent  and 
either  undermine  or  overthrow  our  form  of  gov- 
ernment through  peaceful  evolution  or  forceful 
revolution,  with  sword  or  by  ballot,  the  land  will 
remain.     The  rains  will  water  it,  the  sun  warm 


What  Is  a  Constitution?  59 

it,  human  life  will  exist,  the  Stars  and  Stripes 
will  still  float,  but,  except  from  the  map,  America 
will  be  gone  forever. 

America  is  more  than  fertile  fields,  more  than 
bursting  banks,  more  than  waving  flags.  The 
America  in  which  one  must  believe,  and  for  which 
he  must  sacrifice,  is  constitutional  liberty  and 
justice  according  to  law,  guaranteed  and  admin- 
istered by  three  coordinate  branches  of  govern- 
ment. Just  in  proportion  as  we  weaken  the 
energy  of  the  system  through  changes  in  the 
Constitution — which  Washington  so  earnestly 
warned  against — we  undermine  what  thus  far  no 
one  has  succeeded  in  overthrowing. 

I  repeat,  three  coordinate  branches  of  govern- 
ment with  no  subordinate  branch!  In  the 
America  which  the  world  knows,  and  which  we 
love,  laws  must  be  enacted  by  the  legislative 
branch,  and  not  by  the  executive  or  by  the  prole- 
tariat. Laws  must  be  interpreted  by  an  inde- 
pendent judiciary,  fearless  and  unrecallable 
except  by  impeachment.  And  these  laws,  whose 
scope  is  limited  by  the  Constitution,  must  be 
administered  by  the  executive  and  not  by  the 
legislative  branch.  Congress  has  no  more  right 
to  direct  the  manner  of  execution  of  its  acts  than 
the  president  has  to  direct  or  coerce  the  nature 
of  its  acts.     Let  each  coordinate  branch  keep 


60  Vanishing  Landmarks 

hands  off  the  sacred  prerogatives  of  the  other. 
That's  America!  And  the  man  who  defends 
her  traditions  and  her  institutions,  regardless  of 
his  nativity,  is  an  American  who  can  safely  be 
placed  on  guard  tonight. 

AN  ACTUAL  MENACE 

On  February  3,  1919,  an  editorial  writer  who 
has  testified  that  he  has  six  million  or  more  read- 
ers, quoted  Samuel  Gompers,  president  of  the 
American  Federation  of  Labor,  as  saying: 

"I  mean  that  the  people  propose  to  control 
their  government  and  do  not  intend  any  longer 
to  have  the  governing  power  exercised  by  judges 
on  the  bench." 

And  the  editor  correctly  adds: 

"This  is  as  near  to  an  American  revolutionary 
statement  as  has  ever  come  from  a  man  as  im- 
portant officially  as  Mr.  Gompers." 

Thus  the  issue  is  sharply  drawn.  This  organ- 
ization, if  its  president  has  been  correctly  quoted, 
intends  to  abolish  one  of  our  coordinate  branches 
of  government,  to-wit,  the  courts. 

What  have  the  courts  done  to  justify  such  a 
radical  change  in  our  form  of  government? 
When  the  government  was  organized  the  Fathers 
thought  wise  to  make  express  provision  that  no 
class  should  ever  become  the  special  favorite  of 


What  Is  a  Constitution?  61 

legislation.  The  Constitution  forbids  class  legis- 
lation and  the  courts  enforce  it.  Unless  labor 
union  people  demand  special  exemptions  from 
obligations  to  which  all  others  are  amenable,  or 
special  privileges  denied  to  others,  why  do  they 
officially  make  the  revolutionary  announcement 
that  the  courts  are  to  be  abolished  ?  Yet  this  very 
thing  has  the  approval  of  this  most  widely  known 
and  best-paid  editorial  writer  in  the  world. 
Pressed  in  a  corner,  I  presume  both  would  claim 
that  their  only  desire  is  to  compel  the  courts 
promptly  to  observe  popular  sentiment  instead  of 
studying  legal  principles  and,  to  that  end,  pro- 
pose to  subject  judges  to  some  kind  of  recall. 
And  they  would  doubtless  justify  all  this  by  the 
hackneyed  phrase,  "the  people  can  be  trusted." 

Thus  they  follow  Rousseau  and  Robespierre. 
The  former  declared,  "The  general  will,  the  pub- 
lic will,  is  always  right."  The  latter  said,  "'Tlie 
people  is  infallible." 

A  case  that  well  illustrates  this  "popular  in- 
fallibility" as  taught  by  Rousseau  and  Robes- 
pierre, as  well  as  by  their  present  day  disciples, 
occurred  in  a  certain  county  in  Iowa,  not  fifty 
miles  from  my  home.  A  person  charged  with 
second  degree  murder  sought  his  constitutional 
right  of  a  fair  and  impartial  trial.  He  made  ap- 
plication for  a  change  of  venue,  alleging  that  his 


62  Vanishing  Landmarks 

case  had  been  prejudged  and  that  because  of 
the  existing  prejudice  he  could  not  obtain  a  fair 
trial  within  that  county.  Five  citizens,  the  mini- 
mum requisite  number,  supported  his  motion  by 
their  affidavits.  Promptly,  two  hundred  most 
reputable  citizens  filed  counter  affidavits  alleging 
that  there  was  no  prejudice  whatever.  The 
judge  believed  the  five.  It  is  probable  that  he 
discerned  evidence  of  prejudice  in  the  eagerness 
with  which  the  two  hundred  sought  to  have  the 
case  tried  in  their  midst.  A  change  of  venue  was 
granted,  and  that  night  these  two  hundred 
liberty-loving  citizens  decided  they  would  "no 
longer  have  the  governing  power  exercised  by 
judges  on  the  bench,"  broke  open  the  jail,  hung 
the  accused  and  would  have  done  violence  to  the 
judge  if  he  had  not  been  spirited  away. 

If  you  want  the  opposite  view  of  "popular  in- 
fallibility," so  you  may  the  better  determine  for 
yourself,  listen  to  Colonel  Henry  Watterson,  a 
democrat  of  the  old  school  and  an  American 
always,  in  the  Brooklyn  Eagle  of  February  1, 
1919: 

"The  people,"  says  Colonel  Watterson,  "en 
masse  constitute  what  we  call  the  mob.  Mobs 
have  rarely  been  right — never,  except  when 
capably  led.  It  was  the  mob  of  Jerusalem  that 
did  the  unoffending  Jesus  of  Nazareth  to  death. 


What  Is  a  Constitution?  63 

It  was  the  mob  in  Paris  that  made  the  Reign  of 
Terror.  From  that  day  to  this,  mobs  have  seldom 
been  tempted,  even  had  a  chance  to  go  wrong, 
that  they  have  not  gone  wrong.  'The  people'  is 
a  fetish.  It  was  the  people  misled,  who  precipi- 
tated the  South  into  the  madness  of  secession 
and  the  ruin  of  a  hopelessly  unequal  war  of  sec- 
tions. It  was  the  people,  backing  if  not  com- 
pelling, the  Kaiser,  who  committed  hari-kari  for 
themselves  and  their  empire  in  Germany.  It  is 
the  people,  leaderless,  who  are  now  making  havoc 
in  Russia.  Throughout  the  length  and  breadth 
of  Christendom  in  all  lands  and  ages,  the  people, 
when  turned  loose,  have  raised  every  inch  of  hell 
to  the  square  inch  they  were  able  to  raise,  often 
upon  the  slightest  pretext,  or  no  pretext  at  all." 

OFFICIAL  TIMIDITY  AND  ITS  EFFECTS 

In  some,  perhaps  most  of  the  states,  candidates 
for  either  House  of  Congress,  knowing  in  ad- 
vance that  if,  by  investigation  and  by  Kstening 
to  arguments  pro  and  con,  they  arrive  at  conclu- 
sions based  on  knowledge  that  differ  from  the 
impressions  of  their  constituents  based  on  preju- 
dice, they  will  never  be  returned,  make  more  or 
less  formal  announcement  that,  if  elected,  they 
will  study  no  question  but,  when  ready  to  vote, 
will  inquire  of  those  who  have  had  neither  oppor- 


64  Vanishing  Landmarks 

tunity  nor  desire  to  inform  themselves,  and  vote 
as  directed.  We  pay  congressmen  and  senators 
of  this  type — just  the  same  as  statesmanhke 
representatives — seven  thousand,  five  hundred 
dollars  a  year,  and  they  vote  as  they  are  told  to 
vote.  If  I  am  correctly  informed,  in  some  states 
men  have  been  found  who  will  vote  as  they  are 
instructed  for  considerably  less  money  even  than 
that. 

While  the  bill  was  pending  to  declare  war 
against  Germany,  I  called  upon  a  Congressman 
who,  without  question,  is  the  ablest  man  from  his 
state.  He  had  written  to  lawyers,  bankers, 
farmers  and  labor  men  in  his  district,  asking  how 
he  should  vote  on  that  momentous  question.  He 
handed  me  a  package  of  replies  he  had  received. 
I  returned  them  and  asked:  "Do  you  agree  with 
the  President  that  Germany  is  already  making 
war  upon  the  United  States?"  "Yes,"  he  replied, 
"she  has  waged  war  against  us  for  more  than 
two  years."  "Do  you  think  your  constituents 
know  better  than  you  what  should  be  done?"  His 
up-to-date  reply  was:  "My  constituents  know 
nothing  whatever  about  it,  but  I  want  to  be  re- 
elected." 

But  not  every  congressman  is  that  subservient. 
A  certain  well-known  representative  of  a 
strongly  German  district  in  Ohio  explained  his 


What  Is  a  Constitution?  65 

support  of  the  declaration  of  war  in  this  lan- 
guage: 

"If  I  were  to  permit  any  solicitude  for  my 
political  future  to  govern  my  action,  I  might 
hesitate,  but,  gentlemen  of  the  House,  the  only 
interest  to  which  I  give  heed  tonight  is  the  inter- 
est of  the  American  people;  the  only  future  to 
which  I  look  is  the  future  of  my  country." 

A  few  years  ago  a  bill  was  pending  to  revise 
the  tariff  and  a  member  of  Congress  from  a  cer- 
tain industrial  district  arose  and  informed  the 
House  that  he  had  written  to  several  labor  men 
in  his  district  and  asked  them  how  he  should  vote 
and  that  he  had  received  a  telegram  saying, 
"Vote  for  the  bill."  He  obeyed.  This  member 
did  not  profess  to  vote  his  convictions.  In  fact, 
he  did  not  claim  to  be  troubled  with  convictions. 
And  I  submit  that  if  a  man  is  to  vote  the  senti- 
ment of  his  district,  rather  than  his  judgment, 
it  is  foolish  to  waste  the  time  of  men  of  judgment 
by  sending  them  to  Congress.  It  would  be  more 
appropriate  and  in  far  better  taste  to  send  men 
who  have  nothing  else  to  do.  A  thousand  dol- 
lars a  year  ought  to  be  enough  for  a  man  who 
bears  no  responsibility  except  to  listen  well, 
especially  if  he  be  of  a  caliber  willing  to  act  as  a 
"rubber  stamp"  for  the  people  at  home. 

Right  here  I  want  to  venture  an  opinion,  ask- 


G6  Vanishing  Landmarks 

ing  no  one  to  agree  with  me:  The  gravest  dan- 
ger that  confronts  the  United  States  of  America, 
or  that  has  confronted  her  in  the  last  decade,  has 
not  been  the  armed  forces  against  which  we  sent 
our  brave  boys  in  khaki,  but  in  the  fact  that  there 
are  hundreds  of  representatives,  and  thousands 
of  ambitious  pohticians,  who  cannot  be  purchased 
with  the  wealth  of  Croesus,  but  who  will  vote  for 
anything  and  everything  if  by  so  doing  they  can 
advance  their  political  fortunes. 

Bolshevism  would  be  crushed  and  the  red  flag 
of  anarchy  would  be  no  longer  flaunted  in  the 
face  of  Freedom,  were  it  not  for  this  timidity 
inspired  by  those  who  insist  that  their  representa- 
tives shall  have  no  discretion  and  no  responsibility 
except  as  clerks  for  an  irresponsible  populace. 
This  is  the  doctrine  taught  in  Rousseau's  "Social 
Contract,"  which  Robespierre  read  every  day 
and  which  furnished  the  inspiration  for  the 
French  Revolution.  His  scheme  was  "pure 
democracy,  unchecked,  unlimited  and  undefiled 
by  political  leadership  or  political  organization." 

Marat  declared:  "In  a  well  regulated  gov- 
ernment the  people  as  a  body  is  the  real  sov- 
ereign; their  deputies  are  appointed  solely  to 
execute  their  orders.  What  right  has  the  clay 
to  oppose  the  potter,"  Again,  he  says:  "It  is 
a  sacred  right  of  constituents  to  dismiss  their 


What  Is  a  Constitution?  67 

representatives  at  will."  And  again:  "Reduce 
the  number  of  deputies"  (corresponding  to  our 
members  of  Congress)  "to  fifty;  do  not  let  them 
remain  in  office  more  than  five  or  six  weeks ;  com- 
pel them  to  transact  their  business  during  that 
time  in  public." 

This  spirit  of  "pure  democracy"  which  Wash- 
ington, with  prophetic  eye,  saw  and  warned 
against,  wrought  its  natural  and  legitimate  ruin 
in  France,  is  responsible  for  conditions  now  exist- 
ing in  Russia  and  affords  the  greatest  menace 
to  civihzation  that  the  world  has  ever  seen.  I  do 
not  consider  Washington  a  pessimist  when,  near 
the  close  of  his  "Farewell  Address"  with  heart 
full  of  apprehension,  he  uttered  these  words: 

"In  offering  to  you,  my  countrymen,  these 
counsels  of  an  old  and  affectionate  friend,  I 
dare  not  hope  they  will  make  the  strong  and 
lasting  impression  I  could  wish;  that  they  will 
control  the  usual  current  of  the  passions,  or  pre- 
vent our  nation  from  running  the  course  which 
hitherto  has  marked  the  destiny  of  nations." 

Someone  has  declared  life  to  be  "one  succes- 
sion of  choices."  The  choice  presented  today  is: 
Heed  the  warnings  and  return  to  the  teachings 
of  Washington;  or  go  with  Rousseau  and 
Robespierre  and  enter  the  port  towards  which 
we   are   unmistakably   headed — the   port   where 


68  Vanishing  Landmarks 

lie  the  rotting  timbers  of  all  previous  republics. 
Representative  government  and  direct  govern- 
ment are  inherently  incompatible.  They  are 
absolutely  antagonistic. 


PART  SECOND 

DANGERS  FROM  CHANGES  IN  OUR  PURPOSE  OF 
GOVERNMENT 


CHAPTER  IX 

PRELIMINARY 

The  basis  of  human  happiness  must  be  under- 
stood before  one  can  judge  if  the  policy  which  our 
government  has  pursued  is  calculated  to  afford 
liberty  in  the  pursuit  of  happiness — admittedly 
the  most  important  of  our  inalienable  rights — as 
well  as  to  determine  whether  the  same  should  be 
reversed. 

Preliminary  to  the  discussion  of  the  original 
design  of  government,  and  its  gradual  reversal 
of  purpose,  I  want  to  present  as  briefly  as  I  may> 
some  philosophies  of  life.  This  I  deem  im- 
portant, for  only  as  we  understand  tlie  basis  of 
human  happiness  can  we  appreciate  the  wisdom 
of  the  course  which  the  United  States  pursued  for 
more  than  one  hundred  years,  during  which  it 
attained  the  proudest  position  ever  occupied  by 
any  nation. 

It  is  recorded  that  when  the  first  parents  were 
being  expelled  from  the  Garden  of  Eden  God 
pronounced  this  blessing  upon  the  race:  "In  the 
sweat  of  thy  face  shalt  thou  eat  bread."  I  have 
heard  this  referred  to  as  a  curse,  but  the  All-wise 

70 


Preliminary  71 

Father  has  never  cursed  the  race.  God  seems  to 
be  an  individuahst  and  not  a  collectivist.  "Who- 
soever will,"  "The  soul  that  sinneth  it  shall  die," 
and  many  similar  passages  are  as  far  removed 
from  socialistic  teachings  as  is  possible.  They 
are  the  exact  opposite.  After  some  years  of  ex- 
perience and  much  observation,  I  feel  justified 
in  saying  that,  barring  the  promise  of  redemption, 
the  greatest  blessing  God  Almighty  ever  pro- 
nounced upon  the  race  of  man  was  when  he  said : 
"In  the  sweat  of  thy  face  shalt  thou  eat  bread." 

Then  God  promulgated  a  great  commandment 
containing  two  injunctions,  the  first  of  which  the 
church  seeks  to  enforce.  It  reads:  "Remember 
the  Sabbath  day  to  keep  it  holy."  The  second, 
equallj'^  important  and  as  woefully  transgressed, 
says:  "Six  days  shalt  thou  labor."  I  know 
people  who  violate  each  of  these  injunctions. 
They  break  the  Sabbath  and  will  not  work  the 
other  six  days. 

We  also  read  that  when  God  had  made  the 
worlds  and  swung  them  into  space,  he  pronounced 
them  "Very  good."  It  is  but  reasonable  to  be- 
lieve, and  certainly  reverent  to  say,  that  the  Great 
Jehovah  got  divine  satisfaction  and  gratification 
from  his  creatorship,  and  his  sovereignty.  When, 
in  the  fullness  of  time,  He  made  man  in  His  own 
image,  wanting  to  provide  for  man's  happiness. 


72  VanisJiins;  JLandinarks 

He  harked  back  to  the  thrill  of  creatorship  and 
gave  man  the  capacity  for  the  maximum  of  happi- 
ness from  his  creatorships,  his  sovereignties,  his 
achievements. 

One  needs  but  little  observation  to  recognize 
that  achievement  is  the  basis  of  man's  material 
happiness.  How  often  we  hear  men  say:  "This 
was  raw  prairie.  I  made  this  farm."  "I  planted 
this  grove."  "I  started  this  store."  "I  estab- 
lished this  bank."  "I  built  this  factory."  I  re- 
member very  well  Sir  Thomas  Lipton  telling  me 
where,  as  an  immigrant  with  but  fifty  cents  in 
his  pocket,  he  spent  his  first  night  in  New  York 
City.  There  is  something  more  than  a  joke  in 
the  statement  that  "self-made  men  are  apt  to  be 
proud  of  the  job." 

Nothing  will  develop  manhood  in  a  boy  like 
giving  him  a  pig,  a  calf,  a  lamb  or  even  a  rabbit. 
My!  how  a  boy  will  grow  in  self-respect  when 
permitted  just  to  call  a  colt  "his,"  and  to  feel  the 
resultant  sense  of  proprietorship.  The  estab- 
lishment of  gardens  for  boys,  and  the  offering 
of  prizes  for  the  best  acre  of  corn  grown  by  a 
boy,  is  the  best  "uplift  work"  that  was  ever  at- 
tempted. Until  very  recent  years  the  public  has 
never  sought  to  apply  these  principles  of  mental 
philosophy  to  the  development  of  manly  char- 
acter in  the  young. 


Preliminary  73 

As  soon  as  the  savage  feels  this  divinely  im- 
planted impulse  for  ownership  and  achievement, 
he  is  on  the  road  towards  civilization.  Then,  as 
he  advances,  "individualism"  becomes  more 
marked  and  instead  of  living  in  a  hut,  wearing 
braided  grass  and  eating  his  meat  and  fish  raw, 
he  improves  his  condition  and  inequality  begins. 
Is  civilization  a  failure?  It  must  be  if  socialism 
has  any  place  in  divine  economy. 


CHAPTER  X 

NO  COMPETITION  BETWEEN  THE  SEXES 

A    brief    discussion    of    the    distinction    between 
women  as  voters  and  as  statesmen. 

While  tliis  chapter  is  parenthetical  and  is  not 
essential  to  the  argument,  yet  a  discussion  of  the 
philosophy  of  human  happiness  would  be  incom- 
plete without  it. 

If  man  had  the  power  of  creation  his  present 
wisdom  would  cause  him  not  only  to  omit  com- 
petition between  the  sexes,  but  he  would  avoid 
the  j^ossibihty  of  even  rivalry.  The  Creator  in 
His  wisdom  did  not  put  the  sexes  in  competition 
and  man  can  neither  improve  nor  amend. 

Occasionally  a  woman  develops  a  beard,  but  it 
is  so  rare  that  she  usually  enters  a  museum. 
JSIany  years  ago  I  saw  a  woman  with  a  well- 
defined  "Adam's  apple."  But  none  of  us  admire 
either  "mannish"  women  or  "sissy"  men. 

Woman  does  not  get  her  happiness  from  her 
creatorships  or  sovereignties.  The  normal  woman 
prefers  that  her  husband  be  the  sovereign,  and  she 
his  queen.    Woman  gets  her  happiness  from  her 

74 


No  Competition  Between  the  Sexes        75 

sacrifices.  She  gives  herself  to  husband,  to  chil- 
dren, to  home,  to  church,  to  hospital,  to  good 
deeds,  and  out  of  these  sacrifices  she  gets  the 
maximum  of  her  happiness.  A  boy  asked  the 
butcher  for  tough  meat  and  gave  this  reason :  "If 
I  get  tender  meat,  dad'll  eat  it  all."  That  would 
be  a  libel  upon  woman.  We  have  each  seen  a 
thousand  times  where  mother  was  getting  more 
happiness  in  picking  the  neck  and  the  back  than 
the  children  in  eating  the  white  meat,  while  dad 
grabbed  both  upper  joints. 

But  there  is  another  side  to  this.  When  dad 
is  refreshed,  when  his  blood  is  red,  when  he  is  a 
full-grown  normal  man,  what  does  dad  do?  He 
bears  all  the  hardships  and  all  the  dangers  this 
world  holds  in  store ;  he  freezes  in  the  arctics,  he 
melts  in  the  tropics,  that  he  may  bring  to  those  he 
loves  the  choicest  of  earth,  and  adorn  his  queen 
with  the  brightest  jewels  that  glitter. 

I  have  never  supposed  that  when  our  early  an- 
cestors were  confronted  with  danger  that  there 
was  any  controversy  as  to  who  should  defend  the 
other.  I  have  assumed  that  she  as  instinctively 
sprang  to  his  left,  as  he  to  her  right,  that  Ms  sword 
arm  might  be  free.  His  name  was  John.  Her 
name  was  Mary.  His  brother's  name  was  Peter ; 
he  married  Margaret.  Each  pair  named  their 
son  Ole.     There  being  two  Oles  in  the  tribe,  a 


76  Vanishing  Landmarks 

distinguishing  name  was  necessary.  Do  you  sup- 
pose there  was  a  family  controversy  to  determine 
whether  one  should  be  called  "Ole  Johnson"  or 
"Ole  Maryson"? 

i\o,  woman  does  not  wish  to  be  the  head  of  a 
clan,  or  to  create  or  to  possess,  but  she  does  desire 
that  her  husband  shall  be  a  chieftain,  a  builder 
and  a  landlord,  and  is  willing  to  make  any  sacri- 
fice to  that  end.  Woman  wants  to  be  loved  and, 
incidentally,  let  me  say,  needs  to  be  told  that 
she  is,  in  the  tenderest  way,  and  more  than  once. 
If  told  sufficiently  often,  she  is  even  proud  to  be 
a  slave  to  the  man  who  loves  her  and  sometimes  is 
without  ever  receiving  a  single  post-nuptial  word 
of  endearment. 

I  doubt  if  anyone  would  favor  woman's  suf- 
frage if  he  thought  it  would  result  in  changing 
woman's  nature,  or  in  making  her  mascuhne  in 
manner.  "JNIan's  chiefest  inspiration  to  well- 
doing is  hope  of  companionship  with  that  sacred, 
true  and  well-embodied  soul — a  woman" — only 
because  an  All-wise  Creator  made  the  sexes  as 
unlike  as  possible  and  still  keep  them  both  human. 

"For  woman  is  not  undeveloped  man, 
But  diverse.     Could  we  but  make  her  as  the  man, 
Sweet  love  were  slain." 

Only  one  woman  has  occupied  a  seat  in  Con- 
gress and  I  am  glad  to  record  that  she  remained 


No  Competition  Between  tJie  Sexes        77 

womanly,  and  the  other  members  manly.  In  that 
respect  the  experiment  was  harmless.  She  was 
permitted  to  violate  the  rules  and  to  interrupt  a 
rollcall  to  explain  her  vote.  Neither  the  Speaker 
nor  the  members  called  her  to  order.  Perhaps 
they  would  have  done  so  had  she  not  been  crying 
at  the  time.  During  a  speech  criticising  the  en- 
forcement of  law  against  a  certain  element  in  her 
state,  she  was  asked  several  questions  wliich,  to- 
gether with  her  answers,  were  taken  down  by  the 
official  stenographer.  When  she  revised  the  ex- 
tension of  the  notes  for  the  Congressional  Record, 
she  again  violated  the  rules  and  struck  out  the 
questions  and  answers  and  explained  her  conduct 
by  saying:  "I  didn't  w^ant  them  in  there."  The 
congressmen  affected,  still  chivalrous,  did  not 
even  ask  to  have  the  Record  corrected. 

It  will  probably  be  some  years  before  another 
woman  occupies  a  seat  in  either  house,  for  states- 
manship is  not  gauged  by  intelligence  or  purity 
of  motive,  so  much  as  by  aptitude  crossed  on 
experience.  Aptitude  for  the  law,  aptitude  for 
mechanics  and  aptitude  for  statecraft,  are  quite 
rare,  even  among  men.  Many  women  have  been 
admitted  to  the  bar,  and  while  a  few  have  had 
some  practice  as  attorneys,  thus  far  the  sex  has 
developed  no  one  of  marked  legal  ability.  If  it 
should  produce  a  lawyer  or  a  master  mechanic 


78  Vanishing  Landmarks 

or  a  statesman,  it  will  not  necessarily  entitle  the 
unfortunate  to  a  place  in  a  museum,  but  it  will 
be  about  as  rare  as  anything  in  a  museum. 


CHAPTER  XI 

PURPOSES  AND  POLICIES  OF  GOVERNMENT 

In  this  chapter  the  wisdom  of  the  Fathers  is 
sought  to  be  shown  by  the  fact  that  they  inaug- 
urated policies  and  purposes  admirably  calculated 
to  develop  the  individuality  of  each  citizen,  and 
to  afford  the  greatest  opportunity  for  the  maxi- 
mum of  human  happiness. 

With  these  philosophies  of  human  hfe  in  our 
mind,  let  us  pass  to  the  study  of  the  purpose  and 
policy  of  our  government  as  shown  in  its  liistory. 

Imagine,  if  you  will,  that  we  have  just  won 
our  independence,  that  the  Constitutional  Con- 
vention has  been  held,  the  matchless  document 
there  formulated  has  been  adopted  and  that  the 
United  States  of  America  has  become  a  Nation. 
Then  suppose  all  the  people  within  our  domain 
gather  to  determine  the  purpose  and  policy  of 
their  government.  Will  we  choose  the  least  pos- 
sible government,  and  the  greatest  measure  of 
liberty,  or  shall  the  United  States  become  a  great 
business  concern  with  all  its  citizens  on  the  pay- 
roll? Shall  government  guard  the  liberties  of 
the  people  while  they  prosecute  their  business. 

79 


80  Vanishing  Landmarks 

or  shall  the  government  conduct  the  business  and 
the  citizen  guard  the  government? 

Alexander  Hamilton  will  attend  this  meeting 
and  will  make  the  speech  of  his  life.  Tallyrand 
declared  Hamilton's  to  be  the  greatest  intellect 
he  ever  met.  In  addition  to  well-nigh  match- 
less mentality  he  probably  possessed  greater 
vision  than  any  man  of  his  time ;  and  vision  is  the 
natural  parent  of  statesmanship,  if  indeed  it  be 
not  statesmanship  itself. 

•  Standing  at  the  cradle  of  this  nation,  Alex- 
ander Hamilton  assures  Tallyrand  that  either 
Philadelphia  or  New  York  will  be  ultimately 
the  financial  center  of  the  world.  Back  in  the 
interior  he  predicts  another  metropolis.  Even- 
tually, he  declares,  the  United  States  will  ex- 
tend to  the  Pacific  Ocean  and  yonder  on  the 
western  coast  there  will  be  another  metropolis. 
If  we  build  to  such  dimensions  these  must  be 
our  policies. 

He  continues  his  speech  and  tells  us  that  the 
United  States  is  not  only  destined  to  be  the  most 
powerful  but  likewise  the  richest  nation  in  tl;ie 
world.  Our  unearned  increment  will  exceed  the 
dream  of  man.  These  lands,  now  worthless,  are 
intrinsically  of  great  value.  All  the  minerals  and 
all  the  metals  will  be  found  within  our  borders 
and  these  will  measure  untold  riches.    Today  we 


Purposes  of  Government  81 

have  resources  unequalled  in  any  land,  and  re- 
sourcefulness unmatched  by  any  people,  and  he 
reminds  us  that  resourcefulness,  when  applied  to 
resources,  will  produce  greatness. 

Then  someone  in  the  audience  rises  and  an- 
nounces himself  a  bolshevist  and  moves  that  the 
United  States  retain  title  to  all  these  wonderful 
resources  until  they  attain  their  maximum  value. 
He  proposes  that  we  tolerate  no  "land  hogs"  and 
permit  no  one  to  exploit  the  resources  of  America 
or  make  profit  out  of  iron  or  coal  or  oil  or  even 
a  waterpower. 

Then  a  socialist  declares  this  to  be  a  concise 
statement  of  his  creed  and  seconds  the  motion. 
Non-partisan  leaguers  from  North  Dakota,  and 
single-taxers  from  California,  also  favor  it.  An 
anarchist  joins  to  say  that  while  his  people  are 
opposed  to  any  laws,  yet  if  laws  are  to  be  made, 
they  should  each  prohibit  something  and  none 
should  encourage  anything.  Then  an  I.  W.  W. 
declares  that  this  will  suit  him,  provided  he  be 
not  required  to  work.  But  the  proposition  is  lost. 

Then  a  preamble  and  resolution  is  offered  to 
this  effect:  "Whereas,  the  All- wise  Creator  has 
decreed  that  man  shall  derive  his  greatest  happi- 
ness from  his  achievements,  therefore,  with  faith 
both  in  God  and  man  and  believing  in  America, 
be  it  resolved,  that  we  emblazon  upon  the  sky 


82  Vanishing  Landmarks 

where  all  the  world  shall  see,  the  great  announce- 
ment that  the  Stars  and  Strijjes  shall  forever 
stand  for  Opportunity!"  Tliis  is  carried  by  ac- 
clamation and  amid  applause. 

Then  another  moves  that  we  give  notice  to 
every  citizen,  and  to  every  person  who  may  desire 
to  become  a  citizen,  that  in  the  pursuit  of  guar- 
anteed happiness,  each  shall  have  guaranteed 
liberty  to  look  over  our  broad  domain,  select  the 
biggest  thing  he  dare  undertake  and,  if  he  makes 
it  win,  it  shall  belong  to  him.  This  motion  is 
carried  by  a  rising  vote. 

Then  a  third  man  moves  that  in  the  develop- 
ment of  our  resources,  the  government  shall  foster 
everything,  and  father  nothing.  In  his  speech 
supporting  the  motion,  he  suggests  that  if  Mr. 
Hamilton's  prediction  concerning  the  ultimate 
greatness  of  America  proves  true,  men  will  en- 
gage in  commerce ;  they  will  build  ships  and  they 
will  build  them  too  large  for  our  harbors.  Then 
the  government,  in  fostering  commerce,  will 
deepen  and  widen  our  waterways,  but  it  will  not 
father  commerce  and  take  over  the  ships.  It  will 
leave  to  the  citizen  the  right  to  own  the  ship,  to 
fly  his  flag  at  its  mast  and  to  get  the  thrill  that 
will  surely  come  from  sailing  the  biggest  ship 
that  cuts  the  waves  of  ocean.  Achieve  and  be 
happy!    This  motion  is  also  adopted. 


Purposes  of  Government  83 

After  these  hopeful  and  courageous  souls  have 
thus  formulated  a  progressive  policy,  a  man  an- 
nounces his  fear  that  he  does  not  possess  the 
necessary  vision,  and  certainly  not  the  requisite 
courage  to  accomplish  any  great  thing  and,  there- 
fore, intends  to  become  a  wage-earner,  and  asks 
the  assembled  citizenship  of  America  what  they 
propose  to  do  for  him.  Being  honest  with  our- 
selves we  are  compelled  to  admit  that  we  can 
promise  little  for  the  present.  We  tell  him 
frankly  that  if  he  is  simply  seeking  wages,  he 
might  as  well  remain  in  the  country  of  his 
nativity.  We  assure  him,  however,  that  if  he 
can  endure  pioneer  hardships  until  the  lands 
have  value,  until  the  mines  are  developed,  until 
means  of  transportation  are  afforded,  until  the 
unearned  increment  begins  to  appear,  we  will 
give  him  better  wages  than  the  world  has  ever 
seen.     Have  we  kept  faith?    Let  us  see. 

RELATIVE  REW^ARDS  OF  CAPITAL   AND  LABOR 

As  late  as  1840  men  worked  twelve  hours  per 
day  for  twenty-five  cents,  payable  in  cornmeal  or 
meat,  for  there  was  no  money.  I  can  remember 
when  fifty  cents  per  day  was  a  good  wage.  Then, 
when  property  began  to  have  value,  we  started 
up  the  spiral  stairway  of  more  wage  and  more 
wage  and  then  more  wage. 


84  Vanisliin^  Landmarks 

What  effect  did  this  have?  The  world  took 
notice  and  immigration  increased  as  wages  ad- 
vanced. In  1907  over  one  miUion  immigrants 
landed  on  our  shores,  and  more  than  half  with 
less  than  the  required  $35,00  in  cash.  The  next 
year  800,000  went  back.  Some  of  them  had  been 
here  several  years  and  others  only  a  short  time, 
but,  in  addition  to  what  they  had  sent  home,  they 
took  with  them  from  three  hundred  to  five  thou- 
sand dollars  each. 

How  about  capital?  For  nearly  one  hundred 
years,  foreign  capital  sought  American  oppor- 
tunity. Foreign  capital  built  our  first  railways, 
established  our  first  banks,  erected  our  first  fac- 
tories. But  about  twenty-five  years  ago  it  largely 
ceased  to  come,  for  it  could  do  no  better  here  than 
elsewhere.  Even  American  capital  sought  em- 
ployment in  ]Mexico,  China  and  in  Canada,  sim- 
ply because  these  countries  offered  better  rewards 
for  capital.  The  records  of  the  Immigration  De- 
partment contain  positive  proof  that  for  more 
than  twenty-five  years  labor  in  this  country  has 
been  relatively  better  rewarded  than  capital. 
Otherwise  capital  would  have  come  as  labor  came. 

This  great  truth  ought  not  to  be  ignored.  The 
only  reason  capital  continued  to  come  for  one 
hundred  years  is  because  it  could  do  better  here 
than  elsewhere.     The  only  reason  that  it  ulti- 


Purposes  of  Government  85 

mately  v\  ent  elsewhere  is  because  it  could  do  better 
elsewhere.  Meantime,  immigration,  most  of  it 
swelling  the  ranks  of  labor,  increased  solely  be- 
cause labor  received  in  America  a  relatively  larger 
share  of  the  profits  of  business  and  enterprise  than 
in  any  other  country  on  the  map. 

No  one  claims  that  even  now  labor  receives 
more  than  its  due.  I  am  simply  demonstrating 
the  relative  rewards  of  capital  and  labor  in  the 
United  States  and  citing  positive  proof  that 
immigrants  who  come  seeking  opportunity  do  not 
pursue  a  barren  hope. 


CHAPTER    XII 

THE  RESULT  OF  THIS  POLICY 

The  policy  defined  in  the  preceding  chapter  is 
illustrated  and  its  wisdom  shown  by  tlie  logical 
results  thereof.  The  source  and  constant  course 
of  wages  is  also  discussed. 

After  spending  seventy-five  years  of  our 
national  life  in  the  discussion  of  state  rights,  and 
then  four  years  of  bloody  fratricidal  war,  the 
fact  that  the  United  States  of  America  is  a 
nation  and  not  simply  a  confederation  of  sover- 
eign states  was  definitely  determined.  Occa- 
sionally, we  still  hear  people  speak  of  "these 
United  States."  But  there  are  none.  This  one 
is  all  there  is.  The  term  "these  United  States" 
comes  dangerously  near  a  treasonable  utterance. 
The  court  of  last  resort  rendered  its  decree  at 
Appomattox  that  the  United  States  of  America 
is  "one  and  inseparable,  now  and  forever." 

After  this  perplexing  question  was  settled,  the 
government  proceeded  to  foster  industry  in  the 
largest  possible  way.  For  instance,  certain  men 
proposed  that,  if  properly  encouraged,  they  would 

86 


The  Result  of  this  Policy  87 

construct  a  railroad  to  the  Pacific  coast.  They 
were  reminded  that  only  a  few  years  before  it 
had  been  said  that  not  even  a  wagon  road  could 
be  builded  across  the  Rocky  Mountains.  "Yes," 
says  General  Dodge,  "but  we  will  build  a  rail- 
road." They  asked  a  subsidy  of  money,  to  be 
returned  as  soon  as  possible,  and  one-half  of  a 
twenty  mile  strip  of  land  in  perpetuity.  They 
were  given  both.  The  land  was  then  worthless. 
Do  you  realize  that  if  the  land  that  was  given 
to  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad  on  condition  that 
the  road  should  be  builded  to  the  Pacific  Ocean, 
had  been  given  to  the  Astors,  on  condition  that 
the  Astors  should  go  out  and  look  at  it  each  year, 
it  would  have  broken  the  Astors.  There  was  no 
way  to  go  out  to  see  it.  In  effect,  the  govern- 
ment kept  most  of  the  land  for  homesteaders  and 
gave  half  of  certain  adjacent  tracts  to  railroads 
on  condition  that  they  make  it  worth  while  for 
homesteaders  to  occupy  the  reserved  portions. 
What  is  the  result?  The  Rocky  Mountain  Em- 
pire, yielding  all  the  minerals,  all  the  metals, 
lumber,  fruits,  vegetables,  with  millions  of  people 
living  in  happy  homes,  and  all  because  the  gov- 
ernment fostered  enterprise  and  said:  "Achieve 
and  be  happy." 

Where   there   is   incentive   there   will   always 
be  achievement. 


88  Vanishing  Landmarks 

ANOTHER   ILLUSTRATION 

Permit  one  more  illustration.  One  thousand 
can  be  furnished  as  well  as  one.  Certain  men 
pro^^osed  to  the  government  that  on  certain  con- 
ditions they  would  build  a  silk  mill.  The  govern- 
ment exclaimed:  "A  silk  mill  in  the  United 
States!  We  produce  no  raw  silk."  This  was 
promptly  acknowledged  and  likewise  the  higher 
wages  necessary  to  be  Y>si'\d  in  America.  Still 
they  promised  to  build  a  silk  mill  if  they  were 
permitted  to  buy  their  raw  silk  wherever  they 
could  find  it  without  paying  anything  to  the  gov- 
ernment for  the  privilege,  and,  provided  further, 
that  foreigners  who  might  bring  manufactured 
silk  to  this  market,  in  competition  with  the  prod- 
uct of  their  mill,  should  be  required  to  pay  sixty 
cents  out  of  every  dollar  received,  into  the  treas- 
ury of  the  United  States  for  the  maintenance  of 
this  government,  and  go  home  contented  and 
happy  with  forty  cents.  The  government  re- 
plied: "Go  build  your  mill.  If  you  cannot  live 
on  those  terms,  we  will  make  the  foreigner  pay 
sixty- five  cents."  What  is  the  result?  Ninety 
million  dollars'  worth  of  raw  silk  is  annually 
imported  and  forty-five  million  dollars  are  paid 
in  wages  to  the  workmen  manufacturing  it. 
Achieve  and  be  happy! 


The  Result  of  this  Policy  89 

WHAT  BECOMES  OF  WAGES? 

What  becomes  of  this  forty-five  miUion  dollars 
in  wages  annually  paid  by  the  silk  mills  of 
America?  Every  dollar  of  it  is  spent.  We  all 
spend  all  we  get.  We  spend  it  for  necessaries  or 
comforts  or  luxuries  or  taxes  or  foolishness,  or 
we  expend  it  for  a  house,  or  a  bond,  or  we  deposit 
it  in  a  bank  and  someone  else  spends  or  expends  it. 

Let  us  assume  that  this  particular  forty-five 
million  dollars  of  silk  mill  wages  is  paid  to  west- 
ern farmers  for  food.  The  western  farmers  send 
it  east  for  knit  goods  and  shoes  and  these  fac- 
tories pay  it  out  again  to  labor  and  labor  sends 
it  west  again  for  food.  How  often  will  wages 
make  the  circuit? 

A  man  earns,  say,  five  dollars  and  spends  it  at 
night  for  food  and  clothes.  The  merchant  spends 
his  jDrofit  and  pays  the  balance  to  the  producer 
of  food  and  clothes.  The  producer  keeps  it  as 
a  reward  for  his  toil  or  pays  it  for  wages.  In 
either  event,  it  goes  again  for  food  and  clothes. 
William  McKinley  estimated  that  wages  would 
thus  make  the  circuit  and  come  back  to  the  vvasre 
earner  ten  times  per  annum.  I  beheve  the  esti- 
mate conservative.  A  million  men  annually  earn- 
ing one  thousand  dollars  each,  makes  one  billion 
dollars  in  wages.     This  bilhon  dollars  going  to 


90  Vanishing  Landmarks 

the  merchant  ten  times  a  year  and  back  to  labor 
as  often,  makes  an  aggregate  of  ten  biUion  dol- 
lars in  trade  every  twelve  months. 

A  SUMMx\RY  OF  ACHIEVEMENT 

Now,  hold  your  breath.  The  figures  showing 
the  material  result  of  fifty  years  of  applied  com- 
mon sense,  will  stagger  you. 

When  the  European  war  began,  our  farms 
^vere  producing  more  than  the  farms  of  any  other 
country  on  the  map.  Our  mines  yielded  gold  by 
trainload  annually,  and  we  unloaded  from  coast- 
wise ships  and  railways  on  the  soil  of  Ohio  alone 
more  iron  ore  than  any  other  country  in  the  world 
produced.  In  fifty  years  we  had  builded  as  many 
miles  of  railroad  as  all  the  rest  of  the  world,  and 
these  roads,  before  the  government  began  fixing 
rates,  were  carrjdng  our  freight  for  one-third  of 
what  was  charged  for  like  service  elsewhere  be- 
neath the  sky.  We  cut  from  our  forests  one  hun- 
dred million  feet  of  lumber  for  every  day  of  the 
calendar  year,  and  annually  pumped  from  the 
earth  beneath  250,000,000  barrels  of  petroleum, 
over  sixty-five  percent  of  the  world's  gross  prod- 
uct. Owing  to  the  rapid  exchange  of  wages  for 
necessaries  and  comforts  and  then  again  for 
wages,  our  domestic  trade  had  become  five  times 
as  large  as  the  aggregate  international  commerce 


The  Result  of  this  Policy  91 

of  creation.  Our  shops  and  factories  turned  out 
more  finished  products  than  all  the  shops  and  all 
the  factories  of  Great  Britain  and  France  and 
Germany  combined,  plus  five  thousand  million 
dollars'  worth  every  twelve  months,  and  we  paid 
out  as  much  in  wages  as  all  the  rest  of  the  human 
family.    Achieve  and  be  happy! 

I  hope  you  will  understand  that  I  am  not  de- 
fending either  our  form  of  government  or  our 
policy.  George  Washington,  Alexander  Hamil- 
ton, Benjamin  Franklin  and  those  other  im- 
mortal men,  may  have  been  blithering  idiots 
when  they  chose  to  create  a  republic  instead  of 
a  democracy.  I  only  cite  the  fact  that  they  did 
create  a  repubhc.  We  might  have  accomplished 
more  had  the  government  tilled  the  lands,  built 
the  ships,  constructed  and  operated  the  railroads, 
erected  the  factories,  opened  the  mines,  trans- 
acted the  business  and  put  everyone  on  the  public 
payroll.  I  only  seek  to  make  it  clear  that  this 
was  not  done  and  that  we  did  fairly  well,  con- 
sidering. 

During  all  this  period,  the  government  ac- 
cepted as  its  appropriate  function  the  protection 
of  the  citizen,  while  the  citizen  sought  happiness 
and  secured  it  through  achievement.  The  gov- 
ernment sought  to  protect  him  from  murder,  but 
did  not  always  succeed.     It  tried  to  shield  him 


92  Vanishins^  Landmarks 


fr> 


from  robbery,  but  sometimes  failed.  It  aimed 
to  prevent  extortion  but  was  not  always  success- 
ful. It  did  its  best  to  see  that  opportunity  should 
knock  once  at  every  door,  but  did  nothing  to 
force  an  entrance  or  insure  a  second  call.  Still, 
notwithstanding  errors,  weaknesses  and  admitted 
inefficiency,  the  American  citizen  has  been 
afforded  better  protection  against  all  the  evils 
that  assail  mankind,  than  the  people  of  any  other 
country  and,  in  the  pursuit  of  happiness,  Ameri- 
cans have  enjoyed  far  wider  liberty  of  action, 
and  an  infinitely  greater  percent  of  realization. 


CHAPTER    XIII 

ALL   DEPENDENT    UPON    THE    PAYROLL 

The  importance  of  the  American  payroll  upon 
wliich  all  rely  is  emphasized,  and  the  necessity 
of  safeguarding  this  payroll  is  shown  together 
with  a  lesson  in  domestic   economy. 

While  the  government  has  kept  as  few  as  pos- 
sible in  its  employ  we  are  dependent,  directly 
or  indirectly,  upon  the  payroll.  Not  only  the 
merchant  and  the  farmer,  but  the  professional 
man  and  banker,  have  suffered  when,  for  any 
cause,  labor  has  stood  in  the  bread  line.  This  is 
well  illustrated  by  the  fact  that  the  American 
people  consumed  5.94  bushels  of  wheat  per  capita 
during  1892,  only  3.44  bushels  in  1894  and  over 
7  bushels  in  1906.  He  who  had  eaten  at  the  back 
door  as  a  tramp  fed  himself  like  a  prince  when 
every  wheel  was  turning  and  everyone  working. 

These  figures  are  also  illuminating:  We  im- 
ported for  consumption  $12. .30  per  capita  in  1892, 
only  $10.81  in  1896  and  $16.49  in  1907.  This 
may  cause  surprise  when  you  remember  that  the 
minimum  per  capita  importation  of  1896  was 

93 


94  Vanishing  Landmarks 

when  the  average  tariff  duty  collected  thereon 
was  only  20.67  percent,  while  in  1907  the  aver- 
age rate  was  23.28  percent.  Notwithstanding 
the  higher  rate,  we  actually  imported  for  con- 
sumption sixty  jDcrcent  more  merchandise  per 
capita  than  under  the  lower  tariff  rate.  No  more 
indubitable  proof  can  be  found  that  when  labor 
is  employed,  and  the  payroll  large,  all  classes  and 
conditions  prosper. 

ECONOMIC    PHILOSOPHY 

Suppose  I  build  a  factory  costing,  say,  one 
hundred  thousand  dollars,  and  enter  an  untried 
field  of  manufacture.  I  pay  out  two  hundred 
thousand  dollars  in  wages  and  make  a  net  profit 
of  fifty  thousand  dollars.  These  figures  are 
unimportant  except  as  an  illustration.  I  have 
made  fifty  per  cent  on  my  investment  and  the 
world  says  it  is  too  much.  It  is  too  much,  not- 
withstanding the  fact  that  I  take  all  the  risk, 
make  the  experiment  and  demonstrate  the  pos- 
sibilities of  a  new  industry.  I  also  pay  a  wage 
at  which  my  employees  are  glad  to  work.  Not 
one  of  them  risks  a  day's  toil.  But,  because  my 
profits  are  large,  if  for  no  other  reason,  I  am 
certain  to  have  competition  next  year. 

What  shall  I  do  with  my  fifty  thousand  dol- 
lars net  profit?    I  can  eat  no  more  than  I  have 


Dependent  Upon  the  Payroll  95 

eaten,  and  I  cannot  wear  more  than  one  suit 
of  clothes  at  a  time. 

I  challenge  anyone  to  tell  me  how  I  can  keep 
my  profit  away  from  labor  except  by  convert- 
ing it  into  cash  and  locking  it  in  a  safe  deposit 
box.  Suppose  I  give  my  daughter  a  big  wed- 
ding and  spend  much  money  for  cut  flowers. 
Cut  flowers  are  nature's  sunshine  plus  manage- 
ment and  labor.  So  management  and  labor  get 
that.  But  management  is  compelled  to  spend 
its  share  as  I  spend  mine,  and  thus  it  all  goes 
directly  or  indirectly  to  labor.  I  build  for  my 
daughter  a  home  and  fill  it  with  furniture,  china, 
glass  and  silver.  Both  the  house  and  its  fur- 
nishings consist  of  lumber  in  the  forest,  ore  in 
the  ground,  clay  in  the  pit,  white  sand  in  the 
bank,  and  other  raw  materials,  plus  manage- 
ment, labor  and  transportation — and  transporta- 
tion is  labor.  Thus  labor  gets  all  except  the 
portion  which  goes  to  management  and  capital, 
and  management  and  capital  are  compelled  to 
turn  their  respective  shares  into  labor. 

Here  the  theoretical  socialist  and  the  scien- 
tist— I  mean  the  man  who  recognizes  that 
nothing  is  scientific  except  what  stands  the 
test  of  experience — part  company.  The  socialist 
admits  that  cut  flowers  are  sunshine  plus  labor 
and  as  sunshine  receives  no  portion  he  demands 


96  Vmiishin^  Landmarks 

that  labor  shall  have  it  all.  He  forgets  or 
refuses  to  recognize  that  without  directing 
energy  there  would  be  no  greenhouse,  water 
system,  heating  plant  or  other  essential  of  pro- 
duction. Labor  and  sunshine  never  produced 
anything  better  than  a  wild  flower.  Of  course 
labor  may  and  frequently  does  furnish  the  man- 
agement. All  the  necessary  equipment  for  the 
production  of  the  various  articles  I  have  men- 
tioned is  the  result  of  a  directing  genius  which 
we  call  management. 

Let  no  one  accuse  me  of  trying  to  deceive  or 
cajole  labor.  I  not  only  admit,  but  I  assert, 
that  there  is  far  more  satisfaction,  though  not 
necessarily  greater  happiness,  in  drawing  divi- 
dends than  wages.  I  have  had  both  experiences. 
I  am  an  expert,  for  I  have  either  touched  or 
seen  life  at  every  angle.  I  have  worked  to  the 
limit,  day  after  day,  from  five  in  the  morning 
until  nine  at  night  for  hire,  with  not  to  exceed 
one  hour  for  the  three  meals,  and  have  gone  to 
bed  happy.  For  fifteen  years  I  was  at  my  law 
office,  as  a  rule,  from  seven  in  the  morning  until 
ten  at  night,  and  for  more  than  thirty  years  of 
my  mature  life  I  never  took  a  day  for  recreation. 
JNIy  wife  and  I  are  now  living  quite  comfortably 
from  dividends,  but  we  look  back  upon  those 
strenuous  years,  in  which  this  best  woman  in  the 


Dependent  Upon  the  Payroll  97 

world  joyfully  and  even  joyously  bore  her 
share,  as  the  happiest  period  of  our  lives.  Still 
I  repeat,  dividends  are  better  than  pay  en- 
velopes or  checks  from  clients.  And  I  am  glad 
they  are.  The  All- Wise  must  have  designed 
they  should  be,  for  otherwise  life  would  be  one 
dreary  humdrum  of  drudgery,  with  little  incen- 
tive to  great  effort  and  greater  sacrifice,  the 
universal  quid  pro  quo  in  the  great  one-price 
store  of  republics. 

In  this  connection  permit  me  to  urge  every 
man  whose  wakeful  hours  are  spent  in  toil,  to 
make  it  exceedingly  clear  to  his  children  that 
there  is  more  satisfaction  in  drawing  dividends 
than  wages.  Let  the  youth  also  know  that 
nearly  every  one  w^ho  now  draws  dividends 
began  by  drawing  wages.  I  can  recall  very 
few  men  whose  names  are  or  have  been  known 
beyond  the  confines  of  local  communities, 
whether  bankers,  law^yers,  manufacturers,  mer- 
chants or  railroad  presidents,  whose  hands  have 
not  been  calloused  with  humble  toil.  This  is 
conspicuously  so  of  Rockefeller,  Carnegie, 
Wanamaker  and  Schwab,  and  was  equally  true 
of  E.  H.  Harriman,  C.  P.  Huntington,  J.  J.- 
Hill,  George  M.  Pullman,  the  McCormicks  and 
practically  all  others  who  in  days  past  rendered 
conspicuous  service  in  leaking  America. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

AMERICAN    FORTUNES    NOT    LARGE,    CONSIDERING 

A  country  of  such  resources  could  not  be  developed 
as  America  has  been  without  great  fortunes  re- 
sulting. Inequality  of  results  in  every  field  of 
human  endeavor,  except  the  acquisition  of  prop- 
erty, is  w^elcomed  and  approved  by  everyone. 

I  am  not  surprised  at  the  fortunes  that  have 
been  made  in  this  country.  On  the  contrary, 
even  greater  fortunes  might  have  been  reason- 
ably expected.  As  I  look  over  the  matchless 
resources  of  America,  the  surface  of  which  as 
yet  has  been  only  scratched,  and  the  matchless 
resourcefulness  of  our  people,  I  marvel  that 
even  greater  accumulations  have  not  been  made. 
I  have  been  frequently  surprised  that  I  did  not 
make  more  myself.  But  I  can  account  for  it, 
so  far  as  I  am  concerned.  I  heard  of  a  man 
who  said  he  could  write  as  good  poetry  as 
Shakespeare,  "if  he  had  a  mind  to."  His  friends 
assured  him  he  had  discovered  his  handicap. 
That  was  my  difficulty.  I  had  the  disposition, 
and  I  have  had  the  opportunity.  As  I  look 
back  over  the  years  of  my  mature  life  I  recog- 

98 


American  Fortunes  Not  Large  99 

nize  that  I  have  failed  to  heed  opportunities 
where  I  might  have  made  more  money  than  any 
man  has  made.  But  I  did  not  have  the  vision; 
I  did  not  have  the  courage;  I  did  not  have  the 
"mind  to." 

I  can  construct  a  highway  so  the  worst  old 
scrub  of  a  horse,  with  his  mane  and  tail  full  of 
cockleburs,  can  keep  up  with  a  thoroughbred. 
Yes,  I  can.  But  the  mud  must  needs  be  very 
deep  and  quite  thick.  When  the  mud  is  suf- 
ficiently heav}^  one  horse  can  keep  up  with  an- 
other. But  when  the  track  is  improved,  the 
horse  with  aptitude  for  speed  will  soon  distance 
the  old  cockleburred  scrub,  who  would,  if  he 
could  talk,  very  likely  insist  there  is  something 
wronff  with  our  civilization,  and  become  a 
socialist. 

We  all  demand  good  roads,  though  we  all 
know  that  if  we  have  good  roads  we  will  have 
to  take  someone's  dust.  The  only  way,  my- 
friend,  to  protect  yourself  from  the  other  man's 
dust  is  to  have  the  roads  so  bad  he  cannot  pass 
you. 

A  PARABLE 

During  the  free  silver  campaign  of  1896,  a 
man  with  a  full  unkempt  beard  and  shaggy  hair, 
after  several  times  interrupting  the  speaker,  fin- 


100  Vanishinf^  Landmarks 

ally  asked  in  squeaky  voice:  "JNIr.  Speaker,  how 
do  you  account  for  the  unequal  distribution  of 
wealth?"  The  answer  came  with  promptness. 
"How  do  you  account  for  the  unequal  distri- 
bution of  whiskers?"  When  the  audience  had 
quieted  down,  the  speaker  might  have  said: 
"My  friend,  I  did  not  make  that  remark  to  cause 
merriment  at  your  expense.  I  made  it  to  illus- 
trate a  great  truth.  I  was  born  with  equal 
opportunity  and  equal  aptitude  for  whiskers 
with  yourself.  But  I  have  dissipated  mine. 
Whenever  I  have  found  myself  in  possession 
of  any  perceptible  amount  of  whiskers,  I  have 
dissipated  them.  Had  I  conserved  my  whiskers, 
as  you  evidently  have,  I,  too,  would  be  a  mil- 
lionaire in  whiskers." 

Tell  your  boys,  and  the  boys  you  meet,  that 
if  ever  they  become  millionaires  in  dollars  as 
in  whiskers,  the  chances  are  it  will  be  because 
they  conserve.  John  J.  Blair,  the  pioneer  rail- 
road builder  west  of  the  Mississippi  River,  once 
told  Senator  Allison  that  the  wife  of  Commo- 
dore Vanderbilt  had  many  times  cooked  for  him 
a  five  o'clock  breakfast,  for  which  she  charged 
twenty  cents.  The  seed  from  which  all  great 
fortunes  have  been  grown  was  hand  picked. 

In  the  war  between  the  states  more  than  a 
million  men  enlisted  on  either  side,  and  at  the 


American  Fortunes  Not  Large         101 

end  of  four  and  one-half  years  there  were  fifty 
or  one  hundred  multi-milhonaires  in  mihtary 
achievement  and  mihtary  glory  and  ten  thousand 
in  unmarked  graves.  Socialists  do  not  object 
to  these  inequalities.  While  they  seem  to  wel- 
come millionaires  in  art,  in  music,  and  in  athletics 
they  all  point  to  millionaires  in  business  as  an 
unanswerable  indictment  of  America's  political 
system.  They  rejoice  that  it  can  produce  an 
Edison,  but  mourn  that  it  can  also  produce  a 
Rockefeller.  Yet  the  success  of  these  two  wiz- 
ards is  traceable  alike  to  extraordinary  aptitude 
in  their  respective  fields  of  achievement,  plus 
extraordinary  application.  Neither  of  these  men 
ever  robbed  me  of  a  penny.  On  the  contrary 
each  has  contributed  to  my  comfort,  thus  adding 
to  the  worth  of  living,  and  each  has  cheapened 
for  me  the  cost  of  high  hving.  But  for  Mr. 
Edison,  or  someone  of  a  different  name  to  do 
what  he  has  done,  I  would  be  deprived  of  elec- 
tric light  and  many  other  comforts.  But  for 
Mr.  Rockefeller,  or  some  one  of  a  different  name 
to  do  what  Mr.  Rockefeller  has  done,  every 
owner  of  an  oil  well  would  be  pumping  his 
product  into  barrels  in  the  olden  way,  hauling 
it  to  town  and  selling  on  a  manipulated  market, 
while  I  would  be  deprived  of  a  hundred  by- 
products of  petroleum,  be  still  paying  twenty- 


102  Vanishing  Landmarks 

five  cents  per  gallon  for  poor  kerosene,  and  there 
would  be  no  such  thing  known  in  all  the  world 
as  gasoline. 


CHAPTER  XV 

POPULAR  DISSATISFACTION 

It  is  as  logical  that  dissatisfaction  should  develop 
because  of  inequality  of  results  in  "money  mak- 
ing," as  it  is  that  inequality  in  results  shall  fol- 
low inequality  of  aptitude  and  effort.  This  dis- 
satisfaction has  tended  strongly  to  develop 
socialistic  thought  and  teaching. 

A  century  and  a  quarter,  during  which  rep- 
resentatives were  chosen  because  of  actual  or 
supposed  aptitude,  and  retained  in  office  during 
long  periods — frequently  for  life — when  nearly 
every  industry  was  fostered,  and  none  fathered, 
developed  a  people,  the  best  paid,  the  best  fed, 
the  best  clothed,  the  best  housed,  the  best  edu- 
cated, enjoying  more  of  the  comforts  of  life,  far 
more  of  its  luxuries,  enduring  less  hardships 
and  privations,  than  any  other  in  all  history; 
but  it  is  an  even  guess  if,  at  the  same  time,  we 
did  not  become  more  restless,  discontented  and 
unhappy. 

We  were  not  so  much  dissatisfied,  however, 
with  our  own  condition,  abstractly  considered, 
as  with  our  relative  condition.     The  man  with 

103 


104  Vanishing  Landmarks 

rubber  heels  would  have  thought  himself  favored 
had  he  not  seen  someone  with  a  bicycle,  and  the 
man  with  a  bicycle  was  contented  until  his  friend 
got  a  motorcycle.  The  man  with  a  motorcycle 
thought  he  had  the  best  the  world  afforded  until 
he  saw  an  automobile  and  the  man  in  the  auto- 
mobile was  happy  until  his  neighbor  got  a  yacht. 
"All  this  availeth  me  nothing  so  long  as  I  see 
Mordecai,  the  Jew,  sitting  at  the  king's  gate." 

I  have  lived  some  years  in  this  blessed  land 
and  the  only  criticism  I  have  ever  heard,  either 
of  our  form  of  government  or  our  policy,  is  the 
fact  that  some  men  have  got  rich. 

I  made  this  statement  in  a  public  speech  some 
months  ago  and  asked  who  had  heard  any  other. 
A  man  answered;  "Some  people  have  got  poor." 
I  admitted  that  I  had  known  a  number  of  fel- 
lows whose  fathers  had  left  them  money  and 
who  had  got  poor,  but  I  told  the  audience  that 
most  of  the  poor  men  whom  I  had  known  had 
simply  remained  j^oor.  I  asked  my  critic  if  he 
had  ever  fattened  cattle.  He  admitted  he  had 
not.  Then  I  assured  him  that  he  would  seldom 
see  a  steer  getting  poor  in  a  feed  yard  where 
others  were  doing  well  and  most  were  getting 
fat,  but  he  would  frequently  see  one  that  re- 
mained poor,  notwithstanding  his  environments. 

Two  men  were  standing  by  the  side  of  the 


Popular  Dissatisfaction  105 

New  York  Central  Railroad.  One  said  to  the 
other:  "My,  see  this  track  of  empire!  Four 
tracks,  great  Mogul  engines  taking  two  thou- 
sand tons  of  freight  at  a  load,  passenger  trains 
making  sixty  miles  an  hour.  There  comes  the 
express!"  As  the  train  passed  a  cinder  lit  in 
the  eye  of  the  enthusiast,  when  immediately  he 
denounced  the  road,  cursed  the  management  and 
swore  at  all  four  tracks. 

In  a  country  like  ours,  where  conditions  have 
been  superb,  resources  matchless  and  resource- 
fulness unequalled,  none  should  be  surprised  at 
the  speed  we  have  developed  and  no  one  ought 
to  use  language  unfit  to  print  simply  because 
there  are  cinders  in  the  air.  Admittedly  there 
are.  We  have  all  had  them  in  our  eyes.  They 
are  more  than  annoying,  but  the  only  way  to 
prevent  cinders  is  to  tear  up  the  tracks.  And 
it  is  simply  surprising  the  number  of  good  peo- 
ple who  are  trying  to  make  the  world  a  paradise 
through  a  policy  of  destruction. 

Socialists,  near-socialists,  bolsheviki,  anarch- 
ists, I.  W.  W.'s,  non-partisan  leaguers,  single 
taxers,  and  all  the  infernal  bunch  of  disturbers 
and  propagandists  of  class  hatred,  unintention- 
ally led  and  reinforced  by  a  large  percent  of 
the  teachers  of  political  economy  and  sociology 
in  our  colleges  and  universities,  seem  bent  upon 


106  Vanishing  Landmarks 

nothing  less  than  a  revolution  in  both  our  form 
of  government  and  our  policy  of  government. 
Unless  something  be  speedily  done  to  counteract 
there  surely  will  be  precipitated  in  America  what 
France  experienced,  and  what  Russia  is  now 
suffering. 

WHILE  STATESMEN  SLEEP  THE  EVIL  ONE 
SOWS  TARES 

In  the  winter  of  1898  I  attended  a  much 
advertised  lecture  by  George  D.  Herron,  then 
Professor  of  Applied  Christianity  in  one  of  the 
largest  colleges  west  of  the  Mississippi.  The 
lecture  was  given  in  the  largest  church  of  Des 
Moines,  on  a  Sunday  evening,  and  most  of  the 
other  churches  adjourned  their  services  that  they 
might  hear  this  "remarkable  man."  Several  of 
the  leading  pastors  occupied  the  pulpit  with  him 
and  the  pastor  of  the  second  largest  church  in  the 
city  introduced  the  lecturer,  I  remember,  as  "a 
Man  with  a  Mission."  He  spoke  at  length  and 
his  utterances  were  applauded  by  a  good  per- 
cent of  the  congregation,  and  by  several  of  the 
pastors.  Of  course  the  vile  life  he  was  living, 
and  the  viler  social  belief  which  he  then  and  now 
entertains,  were  unknown,  but  his  far  more  dan- 
gerous teachings  were  well  known  to  all  and 
approved  by  many.     The  burden  of  his  "mis- 


Popular  Dissatisfaction  107 

sion"  was  denunciation  of  what  he  called  the 
"Divine  Right  of  Property,"  which  he  compared 
to  the  "Divine  Right  of  Kings"  and  predicted 
that  as  the  latter  had  been  overthrown  by  revo- 
lution, the  former  must  be.  It  was  indeed  a 
"theory  pickled  in  the  preserving  juices  of  pul- 
pit eloquence  and  laid  by  against  a  day  of  reck- 
oning." I  speak  of  this  not  to  criticise  the  good 
people  who  approved  his  utterances,  many  of 
whom  did  not  comprehend  what  was  involved, 
but  to  show  the  prevalence  of  bolshevist  teach- 
ings twenty  years  ago.  Unless  he  has  changed 
he  should  prove  very  satisfactory  to  the  bolshe- 
vists  of  Russia,  where  at  this  writing  he  is  sup- 
posed to  be  at  the  request  of  the  President. 

Quite  recently  the  professor  of  political  econ- 
omy in  one  of  the  state  universities  of  the  Mid- 
dle West,  in  the  course  of  his  daily  denunciations 
of  the  policy  of  internal  improvement  as  pur- 
sued by  this  government,  and  his  condemnations 
of  wealth  and  the  possessors  thereof,  referred 
to  the  grant  of  land  to  the  Northern  Pacific 
Railroad  and  characterized  it  as  a  "gigantic 
steal."  A  member  of  his  class  who  had  had 
rare  privileges  interrupted  to  ask:  "If  the  lands 
in  this  grant  were  so  valuable  how  do  you  ex- 
plain the  fact  that  Jay  Cooke,  after  financing 
the  Civil  War,  went  broke  in  selling  Northern 


108  Vanishinp:  Landmarks 


H 


Pacific  Railroad  Bonds,  secured  by  both  the 
road  and  the  lands,  at  S.')  per  cent  of  par?"  The 
professor  inquired  where  the  young  man  had 
obtained  his  information  and  was  told:  "From 
the  memoirs  of  Jay  Cooke."  "Well,"  said  the 
professor,  "that  is  a  subject  to  be  considered." 
But  the  next  day  he  continued  sowing  seeds  of 
anarchy. 

During  the  winter  of  1916  I  listened  to  a 
lecture  by  a  man  of  international  reputation 
before  the  students  of  one  of  our  very  large 
eastern  universities.  Early  in  his  tirade,  im- 
properly called  lecture,  he  informed  the  students 
that  there  were  two  ways  to  make  money — "one 
to  earn  it  and  the  other  to  steal  it."  He  told 
them  that  when  they  worked  on  the  street  rail- 
way they  earned  their  money,  but  when  the 
company  charged  five  cents  for  a  ride,  it  stole 
its  money.  The  students  applauded.  Later  he 
told  them  that  if  they  wanted  to  go  to  Boston 
over  the  New  Haven  Railroad,  and  all  the  work- 
men should  die  or  strike,  they  would  get  no 
farther  than  they  could  walk;  but  if  all  the 
stockholders  and  bond  owners  were  to  die,  they 
"might  thank  God  for  the  dispensation  but  they 
would  get  to  Boston  just  the  same."  The  stu- 
dents applauded.  He  closed  in  this  language: 
"They  talk  about  preparedness,  and  well  they 


Popular  Dissatisfaction  109 

maj^  for  if  these  conditions  continue,  prepared- 
ness will  be  necessary  against  the  internal  up- 
rising that  is  certain  to  follow."  The  students 
again  applauded. 

If  there  has  been  anj^  systematic  effort  made 
to  suppress,  nullify  or  destroy  bolshevistic 
teachings,  not  always  as  bold  but  of  the  same 
character,  with  which  nearly  every  college  and 
university  is  daily  deluged,  both  from  chair  and 
rostrum,  I  will  be  glad  to  know  when  and  where 
the  counteracting  forces  have  been  applied. 
Many  men  of  wealth  have  thought  they  were 
advancing  the  interest  of  their  country  and 
humanity  generally  by  endowing  colleges  and 
universities.  We  have  made  education  a  fetich 
and  have  assumed  that  all  education  is  alike 
good.  It  would  be  far  better  for  America  to 
have  its  youth  poisoned  with  strychnine  than 
with  bolshevism.  Poison  administered  through 
the  stomach  is  not  contagious,  but  what  has  been 
lodged  in  the  brain  at  these  hotbeds  of  socialism 
spreads,  and  when  it  breaks  in  epidemic  no  army 
can  effect  a  quarantine. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

GREED   AND   ITS   PUNISHMENT 

The  government  very  properly  interfered  to 
curb  aggression  and  extortion.  That  is  a  most 
appropriate  function  of  government,  but  a  very 
inappropriate  end  and  can  be  carried  too  far. 

Just  cause  for  complaint  did,  does  and  always 
will  exist.  The  Kingdom  of  Heaven  has  not 
yet  been  established  by  human  agencies.  Greed 
of  gain,  whetted  by  indulgence,  led  to  practices 
in  many  instances  reprehensible.  Some  of  the 
big  fellows  who  had  achieved  great  things,  and 
rightfully  owned  what  they  had  accomplished, 
seemed  to  think  they  also  owned  the  little  things 
that  others  had  done.  Punishment  became  nec- 
essary and  the  government  administered  it  wisely 
and  with  lavish  hand.  Not  a  few  of  the  big  boys 
were  whipped  in  the  presence  of  the  infant  class, 
a  thing  always  gratifying  to  juniors.  There- 
upon, all  the  little  people  became  hilarious  over 
these  just  punishments  and  it  became  a  pastime 
to  get  after  "those  higher  up."  One  of  our  dis- 
tinguished senators  is  credited  with  the  state- 
no 


Greed  and  Its  Punishment  111 

ment  that  the  people  changed  the  motto  over 
their  Temples  of  Justice  to  "Soak  Him."  It 
soon  became  more  difficult  to  secure  the  acquittal 
of  an  innocent  man  of  affairs,  than  it  had  been 
to  convict  the  guilty.  Until  time  is  no  more  the 
pendulum  will  continue  to  swing  from  one  ex- 
treme to  another. 

PUNISHMENT  A  MEANS,   NOT  AN  END 

I  know  of  no  better  illustration  of  the  neces- 
sity of  punishment  and  the  desirability  of  quit- 
ting when  its  purpose  is  accomplished  than  an 
incident  told  me  by  a  man  who  claimed  to  have 
been  an  eye-witness. 

Back  in  the  days  when  young  men  attended 
school  until  they  were  married,  a  theological 
student  attempted  to  teach  in  a  country  district 
on  the  frontier  of  Ohio.  The  big  boys  became 
obstreperous.  He  urged  them  to  treat  him  re- 
spectfully for  he  said  he  was  studying  for  the 
ministry.  The  effect  was  as  one  might  suppose. 
They  carried  him  out,  they  washed  his  face  in 
the  snow,  they  dipped  him  in  the  creek  until  he 
gave  up  in  despair. 

Shortly  thereafter,  another  youth  applied. 
The  director  told  him  he  could  not  maintain 
discipline.  He  said  if  he  failed,  it  would  cost 
the  district  nothing.     Certificates  to  teach  were 


112  VanisJmiff  Landmarks 

then  unknown.  When  the  pupils  assembled, 
they  found  him  sitting  at  his  desk  reading. 
They  looked  him  over,  sized  him  up,  thought 
him  an  easy  mark  and  commenced  pounding 
their  desks  and  stamping  their  feet,  and  kept 
it  up  until  nine  o'clock.  Then  the  new  teacher 
laid  aside  his  book,  locked  the  door,  put  the  key 
in  his  pocket  and  called  school  to  order.  The 
preliminiaries  having  been  unusual,  silence  was 
secured.  He  informed  them  they  need  not  at- 
tempt to  escape,  for  the  windows  were  nailed 
down.  Then,  opening  his  carpet  bag,  he  brought 
forth  a  revolver,  a  bowie  knife  and  a  blacksnake 
whip.  Then  after  warning  the  pupils  not  to 
arise  until  their  names  were  called,  he  summoned 
John  Jones  to  the  floor.  With  whip  in  one  hand 
and  revolver  in  the  other,  he  proceeded  to  give 
private  lessons.  When  through  with  John  he 
called  Bill  Smith.  He  did  not  need  to  ask  their 
names.  After  going  some  distance  down  his  list, 
he  told  them  they  had  probably  learned  more 
that  day  than  they  had  ever  learned  in  any  one 
day  in  their  lives,  and  perhaps  as  much  as  it  was 
wise  to  attempt  to  learn  in  one  day,  adding: 
"When  you  come  again,  come  expecting  to  obey 
the  rules,  attend  to  business  and  make  no  false 
motions.  There  will  be  no  further  exercises  to- 
day."    They  la^ver  knew  whence  he  came  nor 


Greed  and  Its  Punishment  113 

where  he  went.  He  had  performed  his  mission 
and  wisely  left  future  tasks  to  his  successor. 

I  did  not  inquire  concerning  the  subsequent 
history  of  that  school,  but  I  understand  human 
nature  enough  to  know  that  if  his  successors 
were  men  without  plan  or  purpose  or  policy  of 
their  own,  and  only  sought  to  repeat  the  popular 
practices  of  their  predecessor,  they  permanently 
ruined  that  school.  There  was  but  one  wise 
course.  Without  apologizing  for  what  had  been 
done,  or  lowering  the  standard  of  discipline, 
there  should  have  been  a  return  to  the  ordinary 
tasks  of  the  schoolroom  without  unnecessary  de- 
lay, for  I  declare  to  you  that  corporal  punish- 
ment is  not  the  purpose  for  which  schools  are 
established,  nor  are  criminal  prosecutions  the  aim 
and  end  for  which  governments  are  instituted 
among  men.  Both  are  essential  at  times,  but  let 
us  hope  that  captains  of  industry  and  business 
men  generally  have  learned  their  lesson  suffi- 
ciently so  that  it  shall  not  be  necessary  to  con- 
tinue indefinitely  what  was  so  admirably  done  a 
decade  or  more  ago. 

Unless  punishment  is  discriminately  adminis- 
tered, demoralization  will  follow,  and  if  the  big 
boys  are  whipped  for  no  other  purpose  than  to 
please  the  little  folks,  they  will  probably  go  fish- 
ing.    And  whenever  the  big  boys  of  America 


114  VanisJiins:  Landmarks 


H 


take  a  day  off,  trouble  ensues.  Only  a  very  few- 
years  ago,  I  saw  a  thousand  men  standing  in 
line  awaiting  their  turn  for  a  cup  of  coffee  and 
a  slice  of  bread  at  the  hands  of  charity.  Busi- 
ness simply  could  not  stand  the  lash  incessantly 
applied.    It  had  taken  a  day  off. 

Then  the  war  came,  abnormal  demands  were 
created  and  great  prosperity  ensued.  But  be- 
fore the  revival  of  industry,  sufficient  time 
elapsed  to  permit  a  fundamental  economic  prin- 
ciple to  be  elucidated  in  the  greatest  school  of 
the  world,  the  school  of  experience. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

OBSTRUCTIVE    LEGISLATION 

While  supervision  and  control  of  big  business  is 
essential,  the  trend  has  been  in  the  direction  of 
interference  and  in  many  instances  inhibition. 

While  both  pohtical  parties,  and  all  adminis- 
trations, profess  great  friendship  for  business, 
the  treatment  that  both  political  parties  have 
accorded  business  is  well  illustrated  by  the  fable 
of  the  elephant  that,  in  going  through  the 
jungle,  stepped  on  a  mother  bird.  When  the 
elephant  saw  the  havoc  she  had  wrought,  she 
called  the  orphaned  chick  and  said:  "This  is 
deplorable.  I  did  not  intend  to  kill  your  mother. 
I  am  a  mother  myself  and  have  the  mother 
instinct.  But  the  deed  has  been  done  and  is 
past  recall.  Being  unable  to  restore  your  mother 
I  shall  give  my  efforts  to  the  task  that  your 
mother  would  perform  if  she  were  hving."  So 
the  elephant  sat  down  on  the  chicks. 

The  American  people  have  shown  great  apti- 
tude and  achieved  unparalleled  success  in  two 
distinct  fields — baseball  and  business.     During 

115 


116  Vanishing  Landmarks 

the  period  of  development  and  successful  prose- 
cution of  these  two  great  national  games,  the 
rules  of  the  game  were  made  by  experts  in  the 
respective  games.  Practical  bankers  made  the 
rules  of  banking,  experienced  traffic  men  made 
rules  governing  transportation,  and  expert  base- 
ball players  formulated  the  rules  of  that  game. 
Business  has  suffered  because  of  modern  meth- 
ods, and  baseball  will  go  where  business  had 
gone  prior  to  the  war,  should  the  same  policy 
be  pursued  and  the  committee  that  is  to  make 
the  rules  of  baseball  be  selected  under  the  direct 
primary  system,  from  among  those  who  never 
play  the  game,  and  seldom  see  it  played,  upon 
a  platform  demanding  that  strenuous  playing 
shall  cease,  and  that  the  score  must  be  a  tie 
regardless  of  errors. 

Instead  of  permitting  practical  bankers  to 
apply  fundamental  banking  principles,  we  have 
forty-nine  distinct  sets  of  statutory  rules,  one 
for  each  state  and  one  for  the  union  of  states, 
enacted  by  men  some  of  whom  have  no  more 
knowledge  of  banking  than  they  have  of  aero- 
nautics, and  frequently  administered  by  those 
whose  tenure  of  office  depends  upon  the  amount 
of  trouble  they  can  make. 

We  legislate  to  prevent  monopolies  and  for 
the  ostensible  purpose  of  encouraging  competi- 


Obstructive  Legislation  117 

tion,  but  the  rules  of  banking  are  well  nigh  pro- 
hibitive of  the  creation  of  new  competitive  con- 
cerns. The  president  of  one  of  the  largest  bank- 
ing institutions  in  the  United  States,  whose  op- 
erations extend  into  every  state,  told  me  that 
he  had  refused  a  loan  to  Phil  Armour  except 
upon  collateral  that  could  be  sold  on  the  stock 
exchange  of  any  city,  and  in  the  same  conver- 
sation said  there  was  not  a  loan  in  his  institution 
except  upon  listed  collateral.  Only  big  concerns 
can  furnish  that  class  of  security. 

Suppose  you  were  to  build  a  packing  house 
costing  one  milHon  dollars  and  should  make  a 
bond  issue  of  five  hundred  thousand  dollars  so 
as  to  have  collateral.  The  officers  of  no  bank 
w^ould  care  to  lend  on  those  bonds.  To  do  so 
would  be  to  rely  upon  their  judgment,  and  some 
little  bank  examiner  would  report  that  the  bank 
had  loaned  on  collateral  that  had  no  market 
value.  Thereupon  the  Banking  Department 
would  write  criticising  the  loan  and  directing 
that  the  letter  be  read  to  the  board  and  a  cer- 
tain number  of  directors  sign  a  reply.  The 
course  of  least  resistance  is  to  refuse  all  loans 
except  to  monopolies  or  upon  stock  exchange 
collateral. 

Not  long  ago  a  friend  applied  to  one  of  the 
large  banking  institutions  in  New  York  City 


118  Vanishing  Landmarks 

for  a  loan  upon  unlisted  securities.  The  presi- 
dent took  from  his  desk  a  certificate  of  stock  of 
a  certain  railroad  and  said:  "I  do  not  believe 
this  stock  worth  the  paper  it  is  printed  on,  but 
I  will  lend  money  upon  it.  I  believe  your  secu- 
rities are  absolutely  good  but  I  will  not  lend  a 
dollar  upon  them." 

The  reason  was  sensible,  and  the  banker  was 
wise  when  banking  laws  and  the  rules  of  bank- 
ing departments  are  considered.  The  railroad 
stock  was  listed  and  dealt  in  every  hour.  Hence 
the  public  assumed  it  had  value,  and  it  could  be 
sold  on  the  stock  exchange  for  a  price  that  fluct- 
uated little.  Its  intrinsic  value,  if  any,  was 
problematic,  but  it  did  have  a  market  value. 
The  security  offered  was  not  listed.  In  the 
opinion  of  the  banker  it  had  abundant  intrinsic 
value,  but  since  it  did  not  have  a  market  value 
on  the  stock  exchange,  he  did  not  feel  justified 
in  inviting  criticism  from  the  Banking  Depart- 
ment by  relying  upon  his  judgment.  It  is  diffi- 
cult for  a  new  concern  to  get  credit  and  without 
credit  no  concern  can  live. 

BECAUSE    ONE    HORSE    KICKS    SHALL    WE 
HAMSTRING  THE  WHOLE  DROVE? 

To  a  greater  or  less  degree,  the  same  policy 
has  been  applied  to  nearly  all  important  branches 


Obstructive  Legislation  119 

of  business.  The  rules  for  the  operation  of 
railroads  and  insurance  companies  are  both  com- 
plex and  conflicting.  The  books  have  to  be  kept 
to  conform  to  the  legislative  requirements  of 
every  state  in  which  the  concern  does  business. 

A  certain  express  company  formerly  employed 
one  attorney  at  two  thousand  dollars  a  year.  It 
now  maintains  a  legal  department  occupying  an 
entire  floor  of  an  office  building,  and  the  officers 
of  the  company  are  in  daily  consultation  lest 
they  violate  some  state  or  federal  statute  and  go 
to  the  penitentiary. 

The  president  of  an  insurance  company  told 
me  that  if  he  did  in  Missouri  what  he  was  re- 
quired to  do  in  Texas,  the  penitentiary  would 
await  him,  while  if  he  omitted  it  in  Texas,  his 
punishment  would  be  equally  modest. 

Severity  of  punishment  in  the  United  States 
has  not  yet  reached  the  limit  witnessed  in  France 
late  in  the  eighteenth  century  when  direct 
government  was  carried  to  its  logical  extreme. 
At  that  time  the  death  penalty  was  prescribed 
for  those  who  took  food  products  out  of  circula- 
tion and  kept  them  stored  without  daily  and 
publicly  offering  them  for  sale.  Failing  to 
make  a  true  declaration  of  the  amount  of  goods 
on  hand  for  eight  days,  and  retaining  a  larger 
stock  of  bread  than   was   necessary   for   daily 


120  Vanishing:  Landmarks 


H 


wants,  were  punishable  by  death.  Death  also 
awaited  the  farmer  who  did  not  market  his  grain 
weekly  and  the  merchant  who  failed  to  keep  his 
shop  open  for  business.  We  may  or  may  not  go 
to  this  extreme  in  America.  I  do  not  at  the 
moment  recall  any  punishment  at  the  present 
time  in  this  country  more  severe  than  six  months 
in  jail  and  a  fine  of  five  hundred  dollars  for 
spitting  on  the  sidewalk. 


CHAPTER   XVIII 

THE   INEVITABLE   RESULT 

As  soon  as  the  government  changed  its  policy  and 
denied  exceptional  rewards  for  exceptional  risks 
virile  Americans  refused  to  assume  these  risks 
and  internal  improvements  ceased.  A  distinction 
is  drawn  between  pioneer  capital  and  improve- 
ment capital. 

The  effect  of  this  changed  attitude  toward 
internal  improvement  and  business  generally  is 
exactly  what  every  thoughtful  person  foresaw. 
No  railroad  construction  worth  mentioning  has 
been  begun  in  the  last  decade.  A  few  unim- 
portant extensions  have  been  made.  About  five 
years  ago,  John  D.  Spreckels  attempted  the 
construction  of  a  road  from  San  Diego  to  the 
Imperial  Valley,  but  a  possible  six  percent  re- 
turn, if  it  proved  a  success,  and  total  loss  if  it 
failed,  did  not  prove  inviting  to  capital.  Facing 
disaster,  he  turned  it  over  to  one  of  the  old  estab- 
lished lines  to  be  builded  on  the  accumulated 
credit  of  that  system. 

The  United  States  was  never  in  such  great 
need  of  additional  transportation  as  during  the 

121 


122  Vanishing  Landmarks 

last  ten  years  and  never  before  was  so  little  done 
to  supply  it.  James  J.  Hill,  the  great  empire 
builder  of  the  Northwest,  used  to  furnish  figures 
to  prove  that  we  must  invest  two  billion  dollars 
new  capital  per  annum  to  keep  pace  with  the 
development  of  the  country.  It  did  not  require 
a  sage  or  a  seer  to  discern  that  if  we  multiplied 
production  from  farm  and  factory,  mill  and 
mine,  indefinitely,  and  failed  to  provide  trans- 
portation facilities,  we  would  ultimately  reach 
a  time  when  crops  would  rot  on  the  ground 
while  those  who  had  grown  them  would  be  freez- 
ing and  coal  miners  starving.  Truly,  the  Amer- 
ican people  are  "kin-folks." 

For  more  than  three  years,  liberty  hung  in 
the  balance  simply  because  the  United  States, 
with  all  her  development,  had  failed  to  keep  her 
transportation  facilities  abreast  of  her  produc- 
tion. 

We  had  no  merchant  marine  and  during  the 
entire  period  of  the  war  were  dependent  largely 
upon  the  Allies  to  transport  our  troops  and 
our  munitions.  Adverse  marine  laws  had  been 
passed  rendering  it  impossible  to  sail  an  Ameri- 
can ship  in  deep  sea  transportation  except  at 
great  loss  even  if  the  ship  had  cost  nothing 
whatever.  It  became  necessary  for  the  govern- 
ment to  take  possession  of  the  railroads  in  order 


The  Inevitable  Result  123 

to  avoid  the  effect  of  statutes  filled  with  restrict- 
ive and  prohibitive  provisions.  If  the  railroads 
had  been  operated  under  private  ownership  as 
the  government  is  now  operating  them,  every 
railroad  president  in  the  United  States  would 
be  in  the  penitentiary.  The  roads  asked  an  in- 
crease of  fifteen  percent  in  freight  rates,  which 
raised  a  furore  of  objection  from  both  shipper 
and  public,  and  it  was  denied.  Government 
control  and  operation  resulted  in  a  loss  of 
seventy  million  dollars  the  first  month.  Then 
both  freight  and  passenger  rates  were  increased 
twenty-five  percent,  generally,  and  in  many 
instances,  one  hundred  percent,  and  no  one 
murmured.  And  still  the  loss  continues.  It  was 
four  hundred  million  dollars  the  first  year  of 
government  operation. 

WILL  WE  EVER  BUILD  MORE  ROADS? 

If  someone  should  predict  that  the  last  rail- 
road ever  to  be  built  in  the  United  States  of 
America,  has  been  built,  are  you  prepared  to 
question  its  correctness?  Will  it  be  necessary  to 
change  our  policy  if  more  roads  are  to  be 
builded  ? 

Listen!  Will  you  invest  money  in  railroad 
construction,  knowing  that  if  it  succeeds  you 
will  be  allowed  no  more  than  six  or  eight  per- 


124  Vanishing  Landmarks 

cent  on  the  money  wisely  spent,  and  that  if, 
through  misfortune  or  want  of  foresight,  it  fails, 
you  will  lose  everything?  The  theory  of  public 
utility  commissions  generally,  is  that  if  money 
is  unwisely  invested  it  ought  to  be  lost,  and 
when  it  is  wisely  invested,  it  should  earn  about 
six  percent. 

Suppose  you  and  I  install  a  hydraulic  power 
plant  and  build  our  dam  according  to  plans  and 
specifications  prepared  by  a  reputable  engineer. 
Then  a  flood  destroys  it  and  demonstrates  that 
the  money  was  unwisely  spent  and,  therefore, 
according  to  these  commissions,  should  be  lost. 
If  the  dam  stands  the  strain,  and  if  it  was  wisely 
placed,  and  if  it  be  economically  operated,  we 
will  be  allowed  six  percent.  Are  you  ready  to 
join  in  an  enterprise  of  this  character?  If  you 
will  not,  who  will? 

Suppose  a  promoter  presents  to  you  an  engi- 
neer's report  made  from  a  preliminary  survey 
of  a  railroad  extending,  let  us  say,  from  St. 
Louis,  around  through  Arkansas  and  Texas  to 
Galveston.  I  am  informed  that  such  a  report 
exists,  and  that  it  shows  that  the  road  will  go 
through  the  largest  body  of  uncut  white  oak  in 
the  world,  extensive  pine  forests,  tap  that  belt 
of  zinc  ore  extending  south  from  Joplin,  Mis- 
souri, make  available  large  coal  measures,  iron 


The  Inevitable  Result  125 

deposits  and  agricultural  areas  now  obtainable 
at  less  than  twenty  dollars  per  acre,  but  which 
with  proper  transportation  facilities,  and  a  pro- 
gressive citizenship,  would  be  worth  two  hun- 
dred dollars  per  acre.  The  engineer  estimates 
that  the  road  when  completed  will  earn  twenty 
percent  on  the  cost  of  construction,  and  you  are 
asked  to  buy  some  of  the  stock  at  par.  The 
statutes  of  most  states  forbid  the  sale  of  even 
initial  stock  issues  for  less  than  par.  How  much 
of  this  stock  will  you  take?  Will  your  neigh- 
bors and  friends  want  some?  How  much  stock 
in  an  unbuilt  railroad  do  you  think  can  be  sold 
at  any  price  when  good  farm  lands  adjacent  can 
be  bought  at  twenty-five  percent  of  par? 

While  the  wisdom  of  the  modern  law-maker 
prohibits  the  sale  of  stock  at  less  than  par  few 
if  any  statutes  have  been  enacted,  limiting  the 
price  at  which  bonds  may  be  sold.  Suppose  you 
are  offered  bonds  instead  of  stock.  Possibly  you 
can  get  the  bonds  at  less  than  par.  What  will 
you  pay,  and  how  large  a  block  do  you  desire? 
Remember,  the  road  has  not  yet  been  built.  The 
money  must  be  placed  in  the  bank  to  be  used  in 
construction  and  you  must  wait  for  your  interest 
until  the  road  has  earned  it.  If  you  will  not 
buy,  will  your  neighbors? 

It  will  help  to  solve  these  problems  if  you  rec- 


126  Vanishing  Landmarks 

ognize  early  in  your  calculations  that  men  with 
much  money  are  not  much  bigger  fools  than  we 
with  little.  If  you  and  I  will  not  invest  in  rail- 
road construction  under  present  conditions,  men 
of  means  and  experience  will  not,  and  the  last 
railroad  ever  to  be  built  beneath  the  Stars  and 
Stripes  is  now  in  operation  unless — ^unless ! 

THE  OLD  WAY 

During  the  half  century  and  more  of  the 
unparalleled  growth  and  development  of  the 
United  States,  bonds  of  unbuilt  railroads  were 
offered  with  fifty  percent  or  more  of  stock  as  a 
bonus.  The  estimates  indicated  that  the  roads 
would  earn  not  only  interest  on  the  bonds  but 
dividends  on  the  stock,  and  a  portion  of  the 
unearned  increment  resulting  from  development 
was  in  this  way  awarded  to  those  who  took  the 
risks.  Investors  were  thus  encouraged  to  expect 
reasonable  returns,  plus  fifty  percent  or  more  of 
water.  The  promoters  who  had  paid  the  ex- 
penses of  preliminary  surveys  (often  abandoned 
as  worthless)  also  labored  with  hopes  of  great 
gain  if  they  should  discover  a  meritorious  propo- 
sition. Those  who  bought  and  occupied  the 
lands  contiguous  to  new  roads  endured  some 
hardships  but  took  no  risks  and  yet  expected  to 
add  at  least  four  hundred  percent  of  water  to 


The  Inevitable  Result  127 

their  investments.  They  reahzed  in  most  in- 
stances more  than  one  thousand  percent  profit 
on  the  original  cost. 

Does  anyone  doubt  that  a  return  to  the  poHcy 
of  apportioning  unearned  increment  equitably 
among  those  who  shall  in  any  way  contribute  to 
the  general  result  will  revive  internal  improve- 
ments? No  one  asks,  and  no  one  would  con- 
sent, that  all  the  unearned  increment  should  go 
to  the  stockholders  of  a  railroad.  Every  one 
favors  governmental  supervision  and  control  of 
rates.  The  point  where  a  few  diverge  from  the 
mass  is  in  recommending  that  those  whose  vision 
and  courage  are  solely  responsible  for  develop- 
ment, shall  have  an  equitable  share  of  the  un- 
earned increment. 

Lest  I  be  misunderstood,  I  desire  to  state 
parenthetically  that  I  have  never  owned  a  rail- 
road bond  or  a  share  of  railroad  stock;  and  I 
have  never  promoted  a  railroad  or  been  em- 
ploj'ed  in  any  capacity  by  a  railroad.  ]Most  of 
what  little  I  now  possess,  I  have  made  by  water- 
ing the  capitalization  of  real  estate.  Occasion- 
ally, in  times  past,  when  I  have  known  of  a 
railroad  about  to  be  constructed,  and  have  recog- 
nized an  opportunity  to  make  a  little  money 
through  another  man's  vision,  on  another  man's 
courage  and  at  the  other  man's  risk,  I  have  pur- 


128  Vanishing  Landmarks 

chased  a  little  contiguous  real  estate,  watered 
the  capitalization  from  one  hundred  to  one  thou- 
sand percent,  and  then  insisted  that  the  road 
should  haul  me  and  my  produce  at  cost  plus 
six  percent. 

PIONEER     CAPITAL 

Does  it  occur  to  you  that  pioneer  capital 
should  be  accorded  pioneer  rewards?  Pioneer 
people  make  sacrifices,  endure  hardships,  suffer 
privations;  but  in  America  they  take  no  risks 
and  their  rewards  have  been  certain  and  speedy. 
But  their  rewards  would  be  neither  certain  nor 
speedy  did  not  pioneer  capital  precede  them, 
blaze  the  way  and  assume  all  risks.  During  the 
period  when  pioneer  capital  was  liberally  re- 
warded, development  outstripped  the  imagina- 
tion of  men.  It  will  do  the  same  again  if  given 
like  encouragement. 

I  assume  that  a  return  of  six  percent  would 
be  ample  on  capital,  let  us  say,  to  construct  an 
additional  track  for  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad 
between  New  York  and  Philadelphia.  That 
would  be  improvement  capital.  Would  the 
same  rate  be  satisfactory  for  money  invested 
in  an  unbuilt  road  into  an  undeveloped  country? 
To  state  the  case  is  to  state  the  argument,  and 
vet  no  railroad  commissioner  has  yet  been  ere- 


The  Inevitable  Result  129 

ated  with  both  the  wisdom  and  the  courage  to 
stand  openly  for  a  distinction  between  de- 
velopment capital  and  pioneer  capital.  Unless 
returns  are  permitted  large  enough  to  induce  a 
reasonable  man  to  take  a  risk  none  will  take  it, 
for  the  unreasonable  man  has  no  money  to  risk. 

In  a  preceding  paragraph  I  referred  to  the 
attempt  of  ]Mr.  Spreckels  to  build  a  railroad 
across,  or  rather  through,  and  much  of  the  way 
under,  the  most  barren  succession  of  mountain 
peaks  and  defiles  I  have  ever  seen.  An  auto- 
mobile road  has  been  built  at  great  expense 
across  the  mountain.  Nine-tenths  of  the  way 
not  a  green  leaf  or  living  thing — not  even  a 
bird  or  insect — will  be  seen. 

Mr.  Spreckels  is  a  very  wealthy  man.  He  is 
supposed  to  own  over  fifty-one  percent  of  the 
gas,  electric  light,  street  railways  and  ferries  of 
San  Diego.  He  does  not,  however,  consume 
fifty-one  percent  of  the  food  cooked  by  the  gas 
he  generates;  he  does  not  enjoy  fifty-one  per- 
cent of  the  light  that  illuminates  that  beautiful 
little  city;  he  does  not  take  fifty-one  percent  of 
the  rides  on  street  car  or  ferry;  and  not  one  per- 
cent of  the  unearned  increment,  the  advance  in 
the  value  of  property  occasioned  by  his  public- 
spirited  enterprises,  inures  to  him.  Having 
more  'noney  than  he  can  use  and  more  than  liis 


130  Vanishing  Landmarks 

children  can  legitimately  spend,  why  does  he 
risk  everything  on  a  railroad  involving  an  aggre- 
gate of  more  than  twenty  miles  of  tunnel 
thi'ough  solid  granite?    I  will  tell  you  why. 

For  some  reason,  let  us  hope  a  sufficient  rea- 
son, the  All- wise  Father  has  implanted  in  cer- 
tain natures  somewhat  more  than  the  average 
vision,  somewhat  more  than  the  average  cour- 
age, somewhat  more  than  the  average  desire  to 
achieve,  and  He  seems  to  have  ordained  that 
these  men  shall  be  happy  only  when  achieving. 
Service  expresses  the  thought  admirably  when 
he  put  into  the  mouth  of  the  returning  Klon- 
diker : 

"Yes,  there's  gold  and  it's  haunting  and  haunting; 
It  lures  me  on  as  of  old. 
But  it  isn't  the  gold  that  I'm  wanting, 
So  much  as  just  finding  the  gold." 

So  it  has  ever  been,  and  thus  it  is  and  ever 
will  be.  These  daring,  progressive  souls  risk 
their  past,  their  present,  their  future  and  the 
future  of  their  families,  upon  gigantic  propo- 
sitions, the  consummation  of  which  makes  the 
appellation,  "I  am  an  American,"  the  proudest 
boast  of  man. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

UNEARNED     INCREMENT 

Originally  the  -government  permitted  each  to 
enjoy  the  natural  advance  in  the  value  of  his  hold- 
ings— the  unearned  increment.  In  recent  years 
it  has  discriminated  and  in  certain  classes  of  in- 
vestments -has  sought  to  limit  rewards  to  the 
equivalent  of  reasonable  interest  rates. 

The  first  piece  of  land  I  ever  owned  was  a 
half  interest  in  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres. 
My  law  partner  and  I  got  four  hundred  and 
eighty  dollars  together  and  we  bought  one  hun- 
dred and  sixty  acres  at  three  dollars  per  acre. 
We  put  part  of  it  under  plow,  rented  it  and 
within  a  few  years,  sold  it.  That  land  is  no 
more  productive  today  than  when  we  sold  it,  but 
the  rascal  who  owns  it  has  watered  the  capital- 
ization until  when  I  buy  a  pound  of  butter  or 
a  dozen  eggs  I  am  helping  to  pay  him  a  divi- 
dend on  two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  per  acre. 
We  watered  it  a  little,  ourselves.  We  sold  it, 
I  remember,  for  twelve  dollars  and  fifty  cents 
an  acre.  That  was  the  first  dollar  I  had  ever 
received  that  I  had  not  earned  in  the  hardest 

131 


132  Vanishing  Landmarks 

way.  It  was  the  first  dollar  of  unearned  incre- 
ment that  ever  came  my  way.  It  was  the  first 
water,  so  to  speak,  I  had  ever  tasted.     I  liked  it. 

I  remember  when  John  Trumm  purchased 
that  land  of  us.  If  he  had  said  to  me:  "The 
country  is  new,  population  sparse,  commerce 
limited;  if  these  conditions  change  and  the  land 
advances  in  value,  to  whom  will  belong  the  un- 
earned increment?"  Very  promptly  I  should 
have  told  him  it  would  belong  to  him.  There 
was  not  only  a  competency  but  a  speculation  in 
the  purchase  of  that  land. 

But  suppose  he  had  said  to  me:  "If  I  do  not 
buy  this  land,  I  shall  put  my  money  into  the 
Chicago,  Milwaukee  &  St.  Paul  Railroad  that 
is  now  building  through  the  county.  The  coun- 
try is  new,  the  population  sparse  and  commerce 
limited.  If  these  conditions  change  and  the  rail- 
road advances  in  value,  to  whom  will  belong  the 
unearned  increment?"  In  my  innocence,  I 
should  have  told  him  it  would  belong  to  him. 
I  might  have  warned  him  that  if  it  resulted  like 
the  first  three  attempts  to  build  a  railroad  across 
Iowa,  he  would  lose  every  dollar  he  invested,  but 
if  the  time  had  then  arrived,  and  if  the  road  was 
built  economically  and  operated  efficiently,  and 
did  prove  a  success,  it  doubtless  would  advance 
in  value  and  the  unearned  increment  would  be- 


Unearned  Increment  133 

long  to  those  who  had  shown  great  vision,  taken 
great  risk  and  exercised  great  skill. 

SOME  CONCRETE  CASES 

I  recall  a  man  ^^  ho  purchased  in  an  early  day 
large  bodies  of  Iowa  land  at  from  three  to  five 
dollars  per  acre.  His  rentals  must  have  equalled 
twenty  percent  per  annum  on  his  investment. 
Then  he  watered  the  capitalization  and  sold 
these  lands  at  seventy-five  dollars  per  acre. 
They  are  now  worth  over  two  hundred  dollars 
per  acre.  But,  even  at  seventy-five  dollars,  they 
made  him  a  millionaire,  financially.  Then  lie 
assailed  the  railroads  for  watering  their  capital- 
ization, though  money  invested  in  a  railroad 
never  yielded  a  quarter  as  large  returns  as  his 
land  investments  netted.  Plis  opposition  to  rail- 
roads, however,  made  him  a  millionaire,  politi- 
cally. 

Some  years  ago  a  man  asked  me  to  join  him 
and  some  friends  in  promoting  a  railroad  to  the 
coal  fields  of  Alaska.  I  asked  him  who  owned 
the  coal  and  was  told  that  anyone  could  have  all 
he  cared  to  buy  at  a  nominal  price.  I  called 
attention  to  a  statute  that  forbade  the  same  men 
owning  both  the  railroad  and  the  coal.  Then  I 
proposed  that  I  take  the  coal  and  let  him  and 
his    friends    build    the    railroad.     If    they    sue- 


134  Vanishing  Landmarks 

ceeded,  I  would  then  go  to  the  Interstate  Com- 
merce Commission  and  get  a  rate  that  would 
give  them  six  percent  on  their  investment  and 
I  would  take  all  the  jirofit.  I  reminded  him 
that  the  public  thought  six  percent  was  enough 
for  money  invested  in  railroads.  The  road  has 
never  been  built. 

I  met  a  friend  not  long  ago  who,  in  explain- 
ing that  the  world  had  been  good  to  him,  told 
me  that  some  years  before  he  had  bought  a 
large  body  of  badly  located  but  excellent  timber 
back  in  the  mountains  of  Washington,  at  fifteen 
cents  per  thousand  on  the  stump.  Then  a  rail- 
road was  built  up  to  his  holdings.  That  was 
some  years  ago  and  during  the  period  of  national 
development.  When  the  road  was  completed, 
he  went  to  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission 
and  got  a  rate  so  that  he  was  then  selling  his 
timber,  which  cost  him  fifteen  cents  per  thousand, 
for  five  dollars  per  thousand,  while  those  who 
builded  the  road  are  presumably  getting  six  or 
eight  percent  on  their  investment  and  will  until 
the  timber  is  exhausted,  when  their  road  will  be 
worthless.  My  friend  is  not  a  reactionary  but 
is  far-sighted.  I  think  he  said  he  studied  finance 
from  the  standpoint  of  a  farmer. 

A  few  years  ago,  at  a  Chamber  of  Commerce 
dinner  in  New  York,  Myron  K.  Jessup  asked 


Unearned  Increment  135 

me  if  I  knew  that  he  was  once  president  of  a 
railroad  in  Iowa.  The  road  extended  from 
Dubuque  to  Farley.  I  asked  him  if  he  remem- 
bered when  an  engineer  by  the  name  of  Smith 
made  a  preliminary  survey  from  Farley  to 
Sioux  City,  and  reported  that  there  was  nothing 
west  of  Iowa  Falls  worth  building  a  railroad 
into.  "Remember  it!"  said  he.  "He  made  that 
report  to  me." 

Think  of  it.  A  man  living  and  in  good  health 
in  1906  who  was  old  enough  to  be  the  president 
of  a  railroad  at  a  time  when  two-thirds  of  the 
north  half  of  Iowa  was  considered  not  worth 
developing.  Ultimately  the  road  was  con- 
structed and  I  happened  to  be  at  Storm  Lake 
when  the  last  spike  was  driven  connecting  the 
two  ends  of  the  road.  This  was  in  1870.  That 
whole  stretch  of  country  could  have  been  bought 
at  that  time  at  an  average  of  less  than  five  dol- 
lars per  acre.  I  remember  riding  forty  miles 
without  seeing  a  house.  The  lands  I  saw  that 
day  could  not  have  been  sold  for  two  dollars  and 
are  now  worth  two  hundred  dollars  per  acre. 

These  lands  were  worthless  without  the  rail- 
road and  the  railroad  relatively  worthless  with- 
out the  lands.  The  lands,  exclusive  of  improve- 
ments, have  jDaid  in  rentals  more  than  twenty 
percent  on  their  cost  and  their  present  value  is 


136  Vanish'mn;  Landmarks 


i-> 


ninety-nine-one-hundredths  water.  Xo  money 
invested  in  railroads  or  anj^  other  industry  ever 
yielded  returns  comparable  with  that. 

The  wealth  of  the  United  States,  estimated  at 
two  hundred  and  fifty  billion  dollars,  is  prob- 
ably ninety  percent  water.  Farm  lands,  timber 
lands,  mineral  lands,  oil  lands,  town  lots,  origin- 
ally cost  very  little.  Deducting  improvements, 
interest  and  taxes  from  rents  and  returns  al- 
ready received,  plus  the  market  value,  and  the 
difference  is  the  unearned  increment  or  the  water 
that  has  been  added  to  the  original  capitalization. 

Suppose,  if  you  please,  w^e  are  just  opening 
a  new  country.  What  policy  would  you  recom- 
mend? Would  you  expect  each  one  to  attempt 
everything?  Or  would  you  encourage  a  division 
of  labor  and  enterprise?  I  fancy  we  would  fol- 
low the  policy  the  Fathers  adopted.  We  would 
encourage  the  improvements  of  lands,  the  con- 
struction of  transportation  facilities,  the  building 
of  mills  and  factories,  of  stores  and  banks,  the 
opening  of  mines  and  the  development  of  water 
power,  and  then  we  would  tacitly  agree  that 
whoever  contributed  in  any  manner  to  the  com- 
mon good  should  share  equitably  in  the  resultant 
unearned  increment. 


CHAPTER  XX 

BUSINESS  PHILOSOPHIES 

This  is  a  preliminary  chapter  intended  to  show 
that  management  is  the  most  essential  factor  in 
every  business  proposition.  Several  illustrations 
are  given,  and  some  advice  offered. 

Before  discussing  government  construction, 
ownership  and  operation  of  railroads,  and  other 
so-called  puhlic  utilities,  I  want  to  call  attention 
to  some  well-known  but  seldom  recognized 
principles. 

All  business  stands  on  three  legs.  No  busi- 
ness can  stand  on  two  legs.  Xotwithstanding 
the  persistent  nonsense  that  has  emanated  from 
press  and  platform,  from  pulpit  and  professor's 
chair,  by  thoughtless  politician  and  thoughtful 
demagogue,  capital  and  labor,  unaided,  have 
Jiever  accomplished  anj^thing  and  never  will. 
But  management,  plus  capital,  plus  labor,  have 
done  wonders  and  still  greater  achievements 
await  the  cooperation  of  this  irresistible  trinity. 

Some  have  tried  to  make  it  appear  that  the 
public  constitutes  a  fourth  leg.     While  the  pub- 

137 


188  Vanishing  Landmarks 

lie  has  rights,  and  affords  markets,  business  suc- 
ceeds only  when  the  public  does  not  interfere. 

Take  the  case  of  the  farmer.  His  lands,  his 
tools,  his  teams  and  other  livestock,  constitute 
liis  capital.  He  performs  the  labor,  furnishes 
the  management,  and  all  goes  well.  Occasion- 
ally a  farmer  prospers  when  he  furnishes  only 
capital  and  management,  notwithstanding  Ben- 
jamin Franklin's  proverb:  "He  who  on  a  farm 
would  thrive,  must  either  hold  the  plow  or 
drive."  The  one  absolutely  indispensable  ele- 
ment of  success  in  farming  is  management.  No 
man  ever  prospered  on  a  farm  simply  because 
he  worked.  He  must  wisely  manage  if  he  lifts 
the  mortgage.  When  the  farmer's  management 
fails,  the  sheriff  becomes  his  land  agent,  and  it 
matters  not  how  productive  his  land,  or  how 
willino'  his  team,  or  how  fruitful  his  flock  or 
how  hard  he  works. 

You  never  knew  a  merchant  to  fail  except 
when  his  management  buckled.  You  may  have 
thought  some  failures  were  due  to  want  of  capi- 
tal; but  even  in  these  instances  management 
was  solely  at  fault,  for  it  attempted  too  much 
with  its  available  capital.  Barring  accidental 
and  incidental  fortune,  good  or  ill,  management 
or  the  want  of  it  is  the  prime  factor  in  every 
success  and  in  every  failure. 


Business  PJiilosojjliies  139 

The  president  of  a  certain  Chicago  federation 
of  labor,  after  hstening"  to  this  thought,  brought 
a  party  of  friends  to  my  platform  and  in  the 
coarse  of  a  brief  visit  said:  "They  have  talked 
io  us  about  capital  and  labor,  capital  and  labor, 
nothing  but  capital  and  labor.  We  knew  there 
was  another  guy  in  there  but  we  couldn't  find 
him."  Then  he  added:  "And  you  have  got  to 
pay  that  guy,  too." 

ILLUSTRATIVE   INSTANCES 

Some  years  ago  and  during  the  period  of  evo- 
lution in  harvest  machinery.  Marsh  Brothers  put 
upon  the  market  what  was  known  as  the  Marsh 
Harvester.  It  was  the  first  radical  improvement 
upon  the  old  self -rake.  Two  men  rode  upon  the 
machine  and  bound  the  grain  as  it  was  cut.  For 
some  reason,  perhaps  disagreement  among  the 
interested  parties,  the  concern  was  reorganized 
into  three  independent  companies  and  certain 
territory  was  allotted  to  each.  A  local  preacher 
by  the  name  of  Gammon  took  one  allottment, 
associated  with  him  William  Deering,  and  the 
largest  manufacturing  plant  then  in  the  world 
was  built  where  nothing  had  stood  before.  The 
other  two  concerns  took  equally  favorable  terri- 
tory, operated  under  the  same  patents,  obtained 
their  caj^ital  in  the  same  market,  hired  labor  at 


140  Vanishing  Landmarks 

the  same  wage,  and  utterly  failed.  Five  years 
thereafter  nothing  remained  except  court  rec- 
ords to  show  they  had  ever  existed. 

Did  capital  build  the  Deering  plant?  It  did 
not.  Did  labor  do  it?  By  no  manner  of  means. 
The  germ  of  management  in  the  brain  cells  of 
William  Deering,  which  no  crucible  would  dis- 
close and  no  scalpel  reveal,  was  wholly  and  alone 
responsible.  Do  you  suggest  that  able  subor- 
dinates and  efficient  labor  were  in  part  respon- 
sible? INIy  answer  is  that  William  Deering  was 
wholly  responsible  for  having  able  subordinates 
and  efficient  labor.  Andrew  Carnegie  said  to 
me:  "I  have  never  been  able  to  discover  wherein 
I  have  been  more  clever  than  others  except  in 
selecting  men  cleverer  than  I."  That  is  the 
acme  of  clever  management,  and  affords  the 
only  certainty  of  success. 

During  a  congressional  investigation  of  the 
meat  industry  the  president  of  one  of  the  "big 
five"  packing  houses  appeared,  and  in  the  course 
of  his  examination  testified  that  while  holding  a 
position  of  considerable  responsibility  to  which 
he  had  been  gradually  advanced,  he  was  asked 
to  organize  a  company  to  take  over  a  certain 
concern,  the  stock  of  which  was  selling  at  about 
ten  dollars  per  share.  The  necessary  capital  was 
tendered  and  he   was  offered   a   salary   of  one 


Business  Philosophies  141 

hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars  per  year, 
quite  a  large  block  of  stock  gratis  and  an  option 
on  thirty-five  thousand  shares  at  ten  dollars  per 
share,  which  he  subsequently  exercised.  When 
asked  if  he  thought  his  salary  was  unreasonably 
large,  he  called  attention  to  the  fact  that  within 
ten  years  his  company  had  become  one  of  the 
five  largest  in  the  world  and  that  its  stock  had 
advanced  from  ten  dollars  per  share  to  par. 
Thereupon  the  chairman  of  the  committee  re- 
marked that  while  he  was  opposed  to  large 
salaries,  he  thought  that  one  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  dollars  per  annum  was  not  excessive 
for  this  particular  witness.  Did  capital  accom- 
plish that?    Did  labor?    No,  management  did  it. 

SUPPOSE   A   CASE 

In  a  certain  city  a  thousand  men  are  out  of 
employment.  In  a  bank  in  that  city  a  million 
dollars  are  out  of  employment.  In  the  foothills 
near  the  city  fifty  million  tons  of  coal  are  out 
of  employment.  The  unemployed  men  see  the 
opportunity  and  offer  their  joint  note  for  the 
money  with  which  to  develop  a  coal  mine.  But 
the  officers  of  the  bank  will  not  lend  money  that 
does  not  belong  to  them  upon  the  signature  of  a 
thousand  men,  each  out  of  employment.  Then 
management  walks  in  and  says  to  the  president 


142  Vanishing  Landmarks 

of  the  bank:  "I  am  a  practical  coal  operator. 
I  have  had  experience,  and  have  associated  with 
me  a  board  of  directors,  each  a  successful  coal 
producer.  In  proof  that  we  understand  what 
we  are  undertaking,  here  is  the  report  of  the 
best-known  coal  engineer  in  the  world,  who  at 
our  expense  has  bored  every  square  rod  of  that 
tract  of  coal,  showing  the  exact  number  of  tons 
available.  Here  also  is  an  assay  showing  the 
quality  of  the  coal.  It  is  worth  so  much  per 
ton  on  the  track.  It  will  cost  so  and  so  to  put 
it  on  the  track.  After  we  have  invested  a  mil- 
lion dollars  of  our  own  money,  we  want  to  bor- 
row a  million  to  complete  the  development  and 
for  working  capital."  By  giving  a  majority  of 
the  stock,  and  all  the  bonds  of  the  company  as 
collateral,  and  by  each  director  signing  the  note, 
the  money  is  obtained.  The  hitherto  idle  men 
are  now  employed  and  a  great  industry  results. 
Query:  Locate  the  cause.  Is  it  capital?  Capi- 
tal languished  and  earned  nothing.  Is  it  labor? 
Labor  was  in  rags  and  labor's  children  were 
crying  for  bread.  That  coal  field  is  developed, 
the  wealth  of  the  nation  increased,  homes  are 
warmed,  furnaces  made  to  glow,  wheels  to  turn, 
by  management,  plus  capital,  plus  labor.  It  is 
so  everywhere,  in  each  and  every  instance,  in 
[his  and  all  other  lands. 


Business  Philosophies  143 

Capital  can  usually  be  had  upon  approved 
security,  and  labor  is  most  always  available  at  a 
satisfactory  wage,  but  management,  the  one 
essential  of  every  achievement,  is  the  most  diffi- 
cult thing  in  the  world  to  find  and,  when  dis- 
covered, imposes  its  own  conditions  and  names 
its  reward. 

A    WORD    OF    ADVICE 

If  teachers  of  economics  and  of  sociology 
would  somewhat  oftener  and  more  generally 
teach  the  Benjamin  Franklin  brand  of  common 
sense  and  make  their  classes  understand  that 
there  are  in  the  United  States  vastly  more 
twenty-five  thousand  dollar  jobs  than  there  are 
twenty-five  thousand  dollar  men  to  fill  them, 
bolshevism  would  diminish  as  rapidly  as  it  has 
increased  under  the  opposite  tuition.  Where  do 
our  editors  and  newspaper  writers  come  from? 
Whence  the  princi^^als  of  our  high  schools,  teach- 
ers in  our  colleges,  preachers  and  lawyers? 
Ninety  percent  of  them  are  from  our  colleges 
and  universities,  and  those  who  graduate  with 
socialistic  and  bolshevistic  tendencies  have  usu- 
ally imbibed  them  either  from  imported  profes- 
sors or  from  American  professors  who  have  re- 
ceived their  Ph.D's  in  Germany. 

In  this  connection  I  also  want  to  say  a  word 


144  Vanishing'  Landmarks 

to  parents:  Would  it  not  be  well  early  in  the 
life  of  your  boy  to  impress  upon  him  that  he 
will  probably  get  out  of  life  something  fairly 
commensurate  with  what  he  puts  into  life  ?  You 
might  also  suggest  that  if  he  will  observe  he 
will  probably  discover  that  those  who  complain 
most  because  the  world  has  been  stingy  with 
them,  are  seldom  able  to  show  a  receipt  for  much 
that  they  have  contributed  to  the  world.  If  in- 
stead of  giving  wholesome  guidance  you  permit 
to  go  unchallenged  the  teachings  which  your  boy 
is  certain  to  get  in  the  school  room,  in  the  pew, 
at  the  theater  and  the  movie,  on  the  street,  and 
especially  from  the  demagogue,  that  those  who 
make  money  are  invariably  dishonest,  those  who 
accumulate  wealth  are  scoundrels  and  that  those 
who  amass  fortunes  should  be  in  the  peniten- 
tiary, I  will  go  security  for  your  son  that  he 
will  never  disgrace  his  parents  by  getting  the 
family  name  on  the  letterhead  of  any  big  insti- 
tution, or  in  the  Directory  of  Directors. 


CHAPTER  XXI 

THE  government's  HANDICAP 

In  this  chapter  an  argument  is  made  that  no 
government,  and  especially  no  republic,  can  supply 
the  necessary  management  for  business  enter- 
prises. The  effect  of  popular  and  political  inter- 
ference  with   public   business   is   illustrated. 

The  principal  reason  why  government  busi- 
ness operations  are  always  financial  failures  is 
that  no  republic  can  supply  the  all-essential 
third  leg.  Its  management  is  always  defective. 
It  can  furnish  capital,  it  can  employ  labor,  but 
in  a  government  where  the  people  have  a  voice, 
management  always  buckles. 

Senator  Aldrich  was  frequently  quoted  as 
saying  that  the  government  could  save  three 
hundred  millon  dollars  per  annum  if  it  would 
apply  business  principles  to  its  affairs.  The 
distinguished  senator  never  said  that.  What  he 
did  say  was  that  the  government  would  save 
three  hundred  million  dollars  per  anum  if  it 
could  apply  business  principles.  Experience  had 
taught  the  senator  what  experience  has  taught 
everyone    who   has   had    experience    and    what 

145 


146  Vanisldns:  Landmarks 


H 


observation  has  taught  the  observing:  that  it 
cannot  be  done. 

I3uring  the  campaign  of  1916,  I  sat  on  the 
platform  and  heard  the  then  candidate  for  gov- 
ernor of  a  great  middle-west  state  tell  an  audi- 
ence that  if  he  were  elected  governor,  he  would 
apply  business  principles  to  state  affairs.  I  fol- 
lowed him  and  told  his  hearers  that,  if  elected, 
he  would  do  nothing  of  the  kind.  In  the  first 
place,  it  was  impossible,  and,  secondly,  they 
would  not  consent  to  it  even  if  it  were  possible. 
I  reminded  them  that  I  knew  better  than  their 
candidate,  for  I  had  tried  it.  I  did  suggest, 
however,  that  simply  because  business  principles 
cannot  be  applied  to  public  affairs,  is  no  excuse 
for  conducting  public  affairs  in  a  thoroughly 
unbusinesslike  manner.  It  is  not  necessary  to 
violate  every  business  principle  because  some 
cannot  be  applied. 

The  candidate  was  elected,  as  he  deserved  to 
be,  and  has  made  one  of  the  best,  many  say  the 
best,  governor  his  state  ever  had.  But  he  will 
have  to  admit  that  he  cannot  remove  officials 
simply  for  inefficiency,  and  he  cannot  make  ap- 
pointments in  the  face  of  public  opposition,  how- 
ever fit  and  worthy  the  applicant.  In  a  thou- 
sand ways  he  cannot  exercise  the  independent 
discretion  which  he  would  if  president  of  a  bank 


The  Government's  Handicap  147 

or    the    head    of    some    industrial    corporation. 

When  I  took  charge  of  the  Treasury  Depart- 
ment I  found  an  appraiser  at  one  of  the  prin- 
cipal ports  who  had  outlived  liis  usefulness.  He 
was  not  dishonest.  Dishonesty  is  the  least  of  all 
evils  of  government  service.  He  was  simply  in- 
efficient. He  had  a  good  army  record,  was  a 
very  reputable  gentleman,  highly  esteemed,  ab- 
solutely honest,  and  Mr.  JNIcKinley  had  made 
him  appraiser.  There  were  many  evidences  of 
inefficiency.  Importers  at  far  distant  ports  wxre 
entering  their  merchandise  at  this  city  and  ship- 
ping them  back  home,  manifestly  for  the  pur- 
pose of  evading  the  payment  of  appropriate 
duties.  I  have  no  doubt  that  the  government 
was  losing  a  million  dollars  or  more  a  year 
through  the  inefficiency  of  this  good  man. 

President  Roosevelt  authorized  a  change.  I 
informed  the  two  senators  from  that  state  what 
had  to  be  done,  and  asked  them  to  select  the 
best  man  they  could  find  and  I  would  arrange 
a  vacancy  to  meet  their  convenience.  President 
Lincoln  is  credited  with  saying  that  when  he  had 
twenty  applicants  for  a  position  and  appointed 
one,  he  made  nineteen  enemies  and  one  ingrate. 
I  wanted  to  protect  these  senators  from  nineteen 
enemies. 

Thev  found  an  excellent  man  and  I  had  the 


148  Vanishing  Landmarks 

old  appraiser  come  to  Washington.  He  fully- 
recognized  his  utter  failure,  and  willingly  re- 
signed. We  parted  friends.  The  inexperienced 
will  suppose  that  was  the  end  of  the  incident. 
It  was  not.  It  was  the  beginning  of  it.  The 
removal  was  declared  to  be  purely  a  political 
deal.  The  President  was  criticized,  I  was  abused 
and  the  two  senators  maligned.  Every  promi- 
nent Grand  Army  man  in  the  country  was  asked 
to  protest,  and  most  of  them  did,  until  this  dear 
old  fellow  was  made  to  believe  he  had  been  im- 
posed upon.  He  published  his  grievances  in  an 
extended  interview  and  in  about  three  months 
died  of  a  broken  heart. 

The  people  will  not  consent  that  public  aif  airs 
shall  be  conducted  as  business  is  conducted. 
Had  tliis  man  been  in  the  employ  of  a  business 
enterprise  in  any  large  city,  his  removal  would 
not  have  elicited  so  much  as  a  notice  that  he  had 
resigned  for  the  purpose  of  giving  attention  to 
his  "long-neglected  private  affairs." 

Public  opposition  to  the  application  of  busi- 
ness principles  to  government  affairs  is  well 
illustrated  in  the  location  and  erection  of  public 
buildings.  Chicago  has  a  federal  building  which 
was  intended  to  accommodate,  and  does  hold, 
not  only  the  post  office,  but  serves  as  court  house, 
custom    house    and    shelters    all    other    federal 


The  Government's  Handicap  149 

offices.  It  cost  nine  million  dollars  and  is  ill- 
suited  for  anything.  There  are  plentj^  of  archi- 
tects who  can  design  a  court  house,  or  a  post 
office,  or  an  office  building,  but  no  one  has  yet 
appeared,  and  no  one  ever  will  be  found,  who 
can  combine  the  three  without  ruining  all. 

During  the  period  of  construction,  the  Chi- 
cago post  office  occupied  temporary  quarters  on 
the  lake  front  in  a  wooden  building,  veneered 
with  brick,  built  expressly  for  the  purpose.  Un- 
questionably it  w^as  the  most  convenient,  and 
therefore  the  best  post  office  in  the  United 
States.  This  of  course  is  from  the  standpoint 
of  a  business  man.  Everyone  connected  with  it 
regretted  its  abandonment  for  the  huge,  impos- 
ing but  outrageous  new  building.  The  archi- 
tect's pride  centered  in  its  enormous  dome.  All 
the  mail  had  to  be  taken  from  the  basement  up 
a  steep  incline  and,  until  they  began  using  heavy 
gasoline  trucks,  it  required  four  horses  to  pull 
out  from  under  the  building  what  one  horse 
could  haul  to  the  depot. 

Pittsburgh  wanted  a  building  equally  impos- 
ing, and  Congress  appropriated  a  million  dollars 
to  buy  a  site.  That  sum  would  pay  for  nothing 
suitable  in  the  central  part  of  the  city.  The 
newspapers  had  all  purchased  property  at  the 
top  of  the  hill,  in  the  newer  part  of  the  city, 


150  Vanishing  Landmarks 

and  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  was  expected 
to  locate  the  Federal  Building  accordingly.  He 
did  not  do  so  and  for  this  reason:  There  were 
no  street  cars  going  near  the  proposed  site.  It 
was  before  the  advent  of  gasoline  trucks  and 
the  mail  would  have  to  be  hauled  up  the  long- 
inclines  by  teams.  In  slippery  weather  a  team 
of  horses,  unless  freshly  shod,  cannot  climb  that 
hill  with  an  empty  wagon. 

Inspired  by  the  experience  at  Chicago,  the 
Secretary  decided  to  give  Pittsburgh  the  best 
post-office  service  in  the  world.  An  entire  block 
near  the  principal  depot  was  purchased,  at  fifty 
percent  or  more  above  its  market  value.  But 
that  was  relatively  cheaper  than  anything  else 
ofi'ered,  and  less  proportionately  than  what  the 
government  is  usually  compelled  to  pay.  A 
suitable  site  for  a  business  enterprise  employing 
a  like  number  of  people,  and  doing  an  equal 
volume  of  business,  would  be  tendered  on  a 
silver  platter.  The  people's  government  never 
got  "something  for  nothing"  until  we  entered 
the  war.  What  it  then  got  and  where  it  got  it 
is  quite  generally  surmised. 

The  intention  was  to  erect  a  steel-framed  post 
office,  not  more  than  three  stories  high,  with 
wide  court,  so  the  light  would  be  abundant,  in- 
stall a  system  of  pneumatic  or  electric  carriers. 


The  Government's  Handicap  151 

with  tubes  extending  to  all  the  depots  and  sub- 
stations of  the  city.  This,  I  submit,  is  exactly 
what  any  business  concern  would  have  done. 
But  it  was  not  satisfactory.  A  perfect  furore 
was  raised,  every  bit  of  which  had  its  root  either 
in  a  hope  of  profit  through  the  location  of  the 
building,  or  in  a  desire  for  a  big  and  imposing 
public  building  with  an  enormous  dome.  The 
people  thought  it  a  shame  that  Pittsburgh  should 
be  asked  to  put  up  with  the  expenditure  of  a 
fraction  of  the  money  that  had  been  thrown 
away  in  Chicago,  and  the  fact  that  one  hour 
would  be  saved  in  the  distribution  and  delivery 
of  every  piece  of  mail,  did  not  palliate  the 
offense.  A  post  office  erected  solely  for  the  pur- 
pose of  efficient  mail  service  will  satisfy  no  com- 
munity. 

There  are  quite  a  large  number  of  ports  of 
entry  where  the  entire  revenue  collected  is  not 
enough  to  pay  the  expenses  of  the  office.  In  my 
annual  reports  I  recommend  that  several  of 
these  be  abolished,  but  no  congressman  from 
those  states  would  support  such  a  recommenda- 
tion and  no  congressman  from  any  other  state 
would  favor  it  lest  economies  apphcable  to  his 
own  locality  would  be  thus  invited.  Everyone 
insists  upon  economy  in  government  matters, 
but  all  demand  that  it  be  exercised  in  a  distant 


152  Vanishina'  Landmarks 


H 


state,  and  preferably  in  some  territory  or  in 
the  District  of  Columbia  where  the  franchise 
is  denied. 

Many  will  remember  William  S.  Holman  of 
Indiana,  for  many  j^ears  chairman  of  the  Com- 
mittee on  Appropriations.  He  was  not  only  an 
able  man  but  a  wise  and  economical  statesman, 
and  merited  the  appellation  by  which  he  was 
internationally  known,  "The  Watchdog  of  the 
Treasury."  The  Committee  on  Rivers  and 
Harbors,  desiring  his  support,  inserted  an  item 
for  dredging  a  creek  extending  into  Holman's 
district,  so  ships  could  come  to  central  Indiana. 
Of  course  ^Ir.  Holman  wanted  to  be  returned 
and  was  therefore  compelled  to  support  the  bill. 
He  even  made  a  short  speech  in  favor  of  this 
particular  item.  When  he  closed,  Tom  Reed 
arose  to  remark  in  his  inimitable  drawl, 

"  'Tis  sweet  to  hear  the  honest  watchdog's 
bark. 
Bay  deep-mouthed  welcome  as  he  draws 
near  home." 

A   SELF-EVIDENT   FACT 

No  government  subordinate  or  bureau  chief 
ever  got  into  difficulty  except  when  he  did  some- 
thing.   No  one  ever  knew  a  refusal  to  act,  or  a 


The  Government's  Handicap  153 

delay  in  acting,  to  be  the  subject  of  judicial  or 
legislative  investigation.  Pigeonholes  all  filled 
is  infinitely  safer  than  a  few  signed  documents. 
This  is  fully  recognized  throughout  the  whole 
realm  of  public  service  and  the  result  is  logical — 
everything  of  a  decisive  nature  is  deferred  as 
long  as  possible. 

In  1906  Congress  authorized  the  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury  to  settle  a  claim  for  ice  sold  to  the 
government  for  the  use  of  the  Union  Army  in 
1863.  I  am  the  only  official  who,  in  more  than 
forty  years,  could  have  been  impeached  for 
action  taken  in  connection  with  that  knotty 
problem. 

Subordinates  in  corporations  and  private  busi- 
ness are  criticised  and  lose  their  positions  for 
failure  to  act.  With  the  government,  men  are 
discharged  and  disgraced  onh^  when  they  do  act. 
Unless  a  clerk  or  bureau  chief  or  head  of  a 
department  is  caught  red-handed,  so  there  can 
be  no  question  of  guilt,  there  is  no  way  to  rid 
the  department  of  an  incubus  without  great  diffi- 
culty. What  I  am  trying  to  emphasize  is  a  fact 
that  everyone  knows,  few  recognize,  fewer  still 
admit  and  many  deny,  to- wit:  That  govern- 
ment, state  and  municipal  affairs  are  necessarily 
conducted  upon  entirely  different  principles 
from  ordinary  business. 


154  Vanishing  Landmarks 

TWO    ARMY    INCIDENTS 

I  am  indebted  to  an  army  officer  for  the  fol- 
lowing, which  I  have  not  verified  and  therefore 
cannot  vouch  for,  but  I  give  it  simply  because 
it  is  absolutely  true  to  life. 

During  the  Indian  insurrections  in  Texas,  a 
certain  officer  got  word  to  his  quartermaster  that 
he  must  have  supplies  and  ammunition  at  a 
given  point  on  the  Rio  Grande  River  without 
delay  or  his  detachment  would  be  annihilated. 
The  quartermaster  must  have  been  a  civilian 
for,  regardless  of  red  tape  and  formality,  he 
proceeded  to  act.  He  found  a  boat  and  sought 
to  engage  it.  But  the  river  was  low  and  the 
owner  dared  not  attempt  the  trip.  "But,"  said 
the  quartermaster,  "if  you  do  not  go,  those  men 
will  be  annihilated."  "If  I  do  go,"  said  the 
owner,  "my  boat  will  be  annihilated,  and  it's  the 
only  boat  I  have.    You  have  more  men." 

Rather  than  fail,  the  quartermaster  purchased 
the  boat  for  twelve  thousand  dollars.  He  loaded 
it  with  supplies  and  ammunition,  started  it  up 
the  river  and  made  his  report.  Promptly,  the 
department  at  Washington  refused  to  ratify  the 
purchase,  and  reprimanded  the  quartermaster 
severely  for  exceeding  his  authority  in  purchas- 
ing a  boat.     I  submit  that  the  department  was 


J^he  Governmenfs  Handicap  155 

right.  No  member  of  Congress  would  vote  to 
give  a  quartermaster  authority  to  buy  a  river 
steamer.  Even  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy 
would  need  congressional  authorization.  Fortu- 
nately, the  boat  returned  and  the  quartermaster 
tried  to  get  the  man  to  take  it  back.  He  re- 
fused. Then  the  quartermaster  found  a  pur- 
chaser, sold  the  boat  for  twelve  thousand  five 
hundred  dollars,  paid  the  purchase  price  and 
sent  five  hundred  dollars  to  Washington. 
Promptly  the  department  refused  to  ratify  the 
sale  and  again  reprimanded  the  quartermaster 
because  he  had  sold  a  boat  without  authority. 
And  the  department  was  again  right.  Congress 
never  has  given  and  never  will  give  authority 
to  a  quartermaster  or  anyone  to  sell  a  boat  or 
anything  else  except  after  prolonged  condemna- 
tion proceedings,  and  then  at  auction.  Any  cor- 
poration, under  like  circumstances,  would  have 
made  that  quartermaster  a  vice-president.  In- 
stead his  pay  was  held  up,  and  he  faced  court 
martial  until  some  comptroller  risked  his  official 
life  and  reputation  by  closing  the  account,  also 
in  violation  of  law. 

If  I  remember  correctly,  it  was  Colonel  Phil- 
lips of  the  regular  army  who  gave  me  this 
chapter  from  his  experience:  While  in  com- 
mand at  a  frontier  post  he  was  asked  by  the 


156  Vanishing  Landmai'hs 

department  to  make  a  recommendation  concern- 
ing a  certain  matter.  Following  the  regulations, 
he  referred  the  matter  to  his  quartermaster.  The 
quartermaster  reported  favorably  to  the  colonel 
in  command,  and  he,  as  colonel,  joined  in  the 
recommendation  and  sent  it  to  Washington.  In 
due  time  he  received  instructions  to  proceed  and, 
again  obeying  regulations,  he  directed  the  quar- 
termaster to  carry  out  the  instructions  of  the 
department.  This  was  done  and  the  quarter- 
master so  reported  to  the  colonel  in  command, 
and  the  colonel  approved  this  report  and  for- 
warded it  to  the  department.  All  of  this  was 
regular  and  would  afford  no  occasion  for  com- 
ment but  for  the  fact  that  Colonel  Phillips,  the 
officer  in  command,  was  also  quartermaster.  He 
had  asked  himself  what  had  best  be  done,  made 
Ills  report  to  himself,  approved  the  report  made 
to  himself,  joined  in  his  own  recommendation, 
then  directed  himself  what  to  do,  reported  to 
himself  that  it  had  been  done  and  then,  as  com- 
mander of  the  post,  had  transmitted  all  the 
papers  to  the  department,  which,  in  course  of 
time,  were  approved,  and  one  more  closed  inci- 
dent in  the  military  affairs  of  the  United  States 
of  America  resulted.  He  had  signed  the  same 
paper  seven  times  and  there  had  been  no  way 
to  abbreviate. 


The  Government's  Handicap  157 

I  submit  that  if  he  had  been  in  charge  of  rail- 
road operations,  some  congestion  of  freight 
would  have  resulted  while  all  these  necessary 
formalities  were  being  worked  out. 

I  want  it  definitely  understood  that  in  re- 
cording these  instances,  no  criticism  is  intended. 
No  material  improvement  ever  can  be  made 
without  throwing  wide  open  every  conceivable 
door  and  shutter  through  which  fraud  and  cor- 
ruption not  only  can  creep  but  leap  and  run. 
I  give  them  for  no  other  purpose  than  to  prove 
established  principles  to  which  there  are  few  if 
any  exceptions,  to- wit:  That  a  republic  in 
business  is  an  ass. 


CHAPTER  XXII 

THE  POST  OFFICE 

The  common  belief  that  the  Post  Office  Depart- 
ment is  conducted  along  approved  business 
methods   is   sought   to    be   dissipated. 

The  advocates  of  government  ownership  con- 
tinually remind  you  that  the  Post  Office  Depart- 
ment is  a  government  managed  affair.  It  is, 
and  I  think  I  am  perfectly  safe  in  saying  that 
until  the  government  took  control  of  the  rail- 
roads, cables,  telegraph  and  telephone  lines,  com- 
menced building  ships  and  constructing  air- 
planes, it  was  the  worst  managed  institution  on 
the  face  of  the  earth.  And  it  has  mattered  little, 
if  any,  which  political  party  has  had  control  of 
its  affairs. 

For  six  years  every  new  post  office  erected  in 
the  United  States  has  borne  upon  its  corner 
stone  this  inscription:  "William  G.  McAdoo, 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury."  As  you  have  seen 
this  evidence  of  official  prominence  in  city  after 
city  in  every  state  of  the  Union,  have  you  won- 
dered why  the  name  of  the  Postmaster  General 

158 


The  Post  Office  159 

did  not  appear  above,  or  below,  or  at  least  on 
the  rear  of  the  building?     It  is  simply  because 
the  Postmaster  General  has  nothing  in  the  world 
to  do  with  the  selection  of  sites,  erection  of  build- 
ings,   or   in   their   care    or   improvement.      The 
Treasury  Department  buys   and  pays   for  the 
sites,   prepares  the  plans,   erects  the  buildings, 
repairs   them,   lights   them,   heats   and   janitors 
them.     It  also  pays  the  rent  of  post  office  quar- 
ters where  the  government  has  not  been  as  yet 
foolish  enough  to  build.    The  Treasury  Depart- 
ment also  audits  the  accounts  of  all  postmasters 
and  not  one  dollar  of  all  this  expense  is  charged 
to  postal  receipts.    Even  the  salary  of  the  Post- 
master General  and  all  his  clerks  is  paid  from 
appropriations  independent  of  postal  revenues. 
Then,  with  no  rent  to  pay,  no  coal  or  current  to 
buy,  with  janitor  and  elevator  service  gratis  and 
accounts  audited,  the  Post  Office  Department 
has  run  behind  an  aggregate  of  something  over 
two  hundred  million  dollars.    Any  express  com- 
pany  would   be   glad   to   take   the   Post   Office 
Department  off  the  hands  of  the  government  if 
it  could  have  free  rent,  free  coal,  the  salaries  of 
their  principal  officers  paid  and  all  their  accounts 
audited  gratis,  for  sixty-five  per  cent  of  what  it 
now  costs  the  government  to  take  care  of  our 
mail  service. 


160  Vanishing  Landmarks 

RIVERS   AND    HARBORS 

Under  the  Constitution,  Congress  has  charge 
of  all  navigable  streams  and  harbors  and  it  has 
spent  billions  in  their  improvement.  Colonel 
Hepburn  once  made  the  statement  on  the  floor 
of  the  House  that  the  appropriations  for  the 
improvement  of  the  channel  of  the  JNIississippi 
River  between  St.  Louis  and  the  Gulf  were 
sufficient  to  have  built  a  ship  canal  of  boiler  iron 
between  these  two  points.  No  one  ever  ques- 
tioned the  correctness  of  the  statement. 

A  recent  River  and  Harbor  bill  contained  an 
appropriation  to  dredge  the  channel  of  a  stream 
in  Texas  where  the  government's  engineers  re- 
ported there  was  only  one  inch  of  water.  An- 
other brook  in  Arkansas  with  only  six  inches  of 
water,  got  an  appropriation.  I  assume  that  two 
more  votes  were  necessary.  I  might  add  for 
the  reader's  information  that  any  stream  in  the 
United  States  can  be  made  navigable  in  law  by 
a  joint  resolution  of  the  two  Houses  of  Con- 
gress saying  that  it  is  navigable.  Lawyers 
would  call  that  navigable  de  jure  but  many  of 
them  cannot  be  made  navigable  de  facto  however 
much  is  expended  in  dredging  and  widening. 


CHAPTER  XXIII 

CIVIL  SERVICE 

The  sole  purpose  of  discussing  the  Civil  Service 
System  in  this  connection  is  to  show  what  must 
ensue  if  the  government  continues  its  trend  and 
enlarges  its  business  operations.  Partisan  politics 
cannot  be  eliminated,  neither  does  the  Civil  Ser- 
vice secure  the  most  efficient.  Concrete  and 
actual  instances  are  given  as  illustrations. 

So  much  has  been  said  in  favor  of  Civil 
Service  by  its  friends,  and  so  much  criticism 
offered  by  those  who  know  httle  about  it,  that 
I  am  impelled  to  submit  a  few  observations 
drawn  from  five  years'  experience  at  the  head 
of  a  department  having,  a  portion  of  the  time, 
as  high  as  twenty  thousand  people  on  its  payroll, 
over  ninety  percent  of  whom  were  in  the  classi- 
fied service. 

It  is  not  my  purpose  to  criticise  or  commend. 
I  do  intend,  however,  to  make  reasonably  clear 
some  of  the  inevitable  conditions  that  would 
ensue  if  the  government  should  remain  operator 
or  should  become  owner  and  operator  of  rail- 
roads, merchant  ships,  express,  cable,  telegraph 

;i6i 


162  Vanisliing  Landmarks 

and  telephone  companies,  and  other  public  util- 
ities, constructor  of  airplanes,  merchant  ships, 
and  logically  producers  of  all  materials  and 
supplies  therefor. 

Everyone  concedes  that  to  avoid  complete 
partisan  prostitution  of  these  widely-extended 
and  diversified  interests,  every  agent,  servant 
and  employee,  with  the  possible  exception  of 
unskilled  laborers,  would  have  to  be  covered 
under  Civil  Service.  This  would  palliate  the 
evil  but,  as  we  shall  presently  see,  would  not 
prevent  political  manipulation  and  influence,  and 
would  render  efficient  service  absolutely  im- 
possible. 

It  will  be  idle  to  approach  this  subject  without 
recognizing  a  very  marked  distinction  between 
business  operations  and  government  service. 
Business  is  conducted  primarily  for  the  profit 
that  legitimately  results.  The  wise  man  knows, 
however,  that  the  better  the  service,  the  more 
certain  his  rewards.  The  merchant  who  best 
serves  his  customers  will  have  the  most  custo- 
mers to  serve,  and  the  lawj^er  who  best  protects 
his  clients  will  have  the  largest  and  the  most 
lucrative  practice.  Service  and  profit  are  seldom 
divorced.  If  it  be  true,  as  has  been  said,  that  a 
grateful  people  will  make  a  beaten  path  to  the 
door  of  him  who  improves  a  mousetrap,  it  is  also 


Civil  Service  163 

equally  true  that  the  world's  financial  rewards 
are  liberal  beyond  calculation  to  him  who  ren- 
ders any  substantial  service. 

This  principle  does  not  apply  to  government 
matters.  Here  the  ultimate  end  is  not  profit, 
but  power.  While  a  political  party  may  hope 
to  be  continued  if  its  service  is  acceptable,  it  has 
no  right  to  expect  its  administration  will  be  ac- 
ceptable if  it  neglects  the  ordinary  methods  by 
which  a23proval  is  secured — which  is  politics.  In 
politics,  everything  reasonable  and  honest  is 
made  to  serve  the  ends  of  politics,  exactly  as  in 
business  everything  reasonable  and  honest  is 
made  to  contribute  to  profit. 

A  most  natural  result  of  public  service  is 
loyalty  to  superiors.  This  is  true  in  a  very 
marked  degree  in  all  government  departments. 
If  government  clerks  were  to  vote,  I  suppose 
three-fourths  of  them  would  support  the  party 
in  power,  without  regard  to  whicli  party  it  hap- 
pened to  be.  One-half  of  the  balance  would 
fear  even  to  vote  lest  they  might  cause  offense 
and  prejudice  their  promotion — the  sole  con- 
sideration with  many  department  clerks — while 
only  a  comparative  few  would  openly  support 
the  opposite  party  and  some  of  these  would  sub- 
sequently regret  it. 

A  case  is  current  where  an  official  who  is  sup- 


164  Vanishinii:  Landmarks 


H 


posed  not  to  be  devoid  of  future  political  ambi- 
tion, said  to  a  friend  who  had  witnessed  the 
obsequious  servility  of  subordinates:  "There  are 
two  million  of  these  and  every  one  is  a  voter." 

You  will  recognize  that  no  promotion,  demo- 
tion or  dismissal  within  a  business  organization 
invites  newspaper  comment  or  criticism  from 
friend  or  foe.  In  government  service  the  exact 
opposite  is  the  rule.  When  constituents  inform 
a  congressman  that  someone  from  his  district 
has  had  his  salary  reduced,  the  whole  delegation 
from  that  state  get  busy.  Let  it  be  known  that 
some  clerk  has  been  longer  in  a  department  than 
another  who  has  received  more  promotion,  and 
an  explanation  is  certain  to  be  demanded,  and  it 
is  relatively  useless  to  urge  inefficiency  as  the 
cause.  In  such  cases  the  public  ascribes  but  two 
causes,  politics  and  favoritism. 

While  "offensive  partisanship"  is  publicly  for- 
bidden, it  is  generally  recognized  on  the  inside 
that  no  activity  of  a  partisan  character  is  "offen- 
sive" so  long  as  it  is  quiet,  and  is  exercised  in 
favor  of  the  party  in  power.  Public  officials, 
of  the  rank  of  postmasters,  customs  and  internal 
revenue  collectors,  and  district  attorneys  are  not 
expected  to  be  delegates  to  political  conventions, 
but  I  have  never  known  their  superiors,  when  of 
the  same  political  faith,  to  object  to  their  being 


Civil  Service  165 

in  the  town  while  the  convention  is  in  session, 
maintaining  suitable  headquarters  at  the  hotel, 
and  even  volunteering  valuable  advice  to  those 
who  happen  to  call,  as  well  as  to  those  who  are 
sent  for. 

But  politics  is  not  the  only  weakness  of  the 
system.  The  public  has  been  taught  to  believe 
that  Civil  Service  examinations  result  in  secur- 
ing the  most  efficient.    This  is  a  serious  delusion. 

Those  who  take  civil  service  examinations 
usually  find  their  names  rejected  or  upon  the 
eligible  list  within  six  months.  It  takes  about 
that  long  to  classify.  Any  time  within  two  years 
thereafter  the  applicant  is  liable  to  be  certified 
and  called. 

When  a  requisition  is  made  the  Commission 
certifies  three  names.  It  is  not  at  all  likely  that 
they  are  the  three  whose  examinations  show 
them  the  best  qualified.  That  question  is  not 
considered — applicants  either  pass  or  fail.  They 
are  simply  the  three  names  at  the  head  of  the 
list  from  the  state  whose  quota  is  not  exhausted. 
The  officer  calling  for  the  clerk  examines  the 
records  of  the  certified  names  and  makes  a 
selection.  Thereupon  the  applicant  is  notified 
to  present  himself  at  a  given  place  where  the 
minimum  salary — in  normal  times  seven  hundred 
dollars  per  annum — awaits  him.     Even  though 


166  Vanishing  Landinarks 

he  took  his  examination  only  twelve  months  be- 
fore, the  chances  are  he  declines,  giving  as  his 
reason  that  he  is  now  getting  a  thousand  dollars 
with  good  prospects  of  promotion. 

It  is  only  a  question  of  time,  however,  when 
some  applicant  will  be  found  who,  during  the 
period  between  examination  and  certification, 
varying  from  six  months  to  two  years  and  six 
months,  has  been  unable  to  get  a  job  at  seven 
hundred  dollars  and  he  jumps  at  the  chance  to 
"serve  his  country." 

You  knew  this  must  be  the  way  but  probably 
you  had  not  stopped  to  analyze  it.  The  Civil 
Service  screen  is  so  constructed  as  to  catch  the 
small  fish  and  allow  the  large  ones  to  escape. 
And  there  is  no  way  known  to  man  to  change  it 
without  opening  wide  the  door  for  favoritism, 
which  the  Civil  Service  system  is  supposed  to 
close  and  effectively  bar. 

Nevertheless  some  of  the  clerks  and  employees 
selected  in  this  way  develop  a  good  degree  of 
efficiency  and  prove  far  better  than  anyone 
would  expect  from  an  inspection  of  the  ma- 
chinery by  wliich  they  are  secured.  With 
scarcely  an  exception  they  are  honest  and  con- 
scientious toilers,  with  very  little  ambition.  A 
few  have  ambition  but  these  should,  and  usually 
do,  soon  resign. 


Civil  Service  167 

I  have  in  mind  a  business  organization  with 
several  thousand  on  its  payroll.  Its  operations 
extend  from  ocean  to  ocean  and  its  employees 
include  geologists,  chemists,  engineers  of  every 
kind,  purchasing  agents,  salesmen,  superintend- 
ents of  both  construction  and  transportation, 
clerks,  clear  down  to  unskilled  laborers.  Every- 
one connected  with  the  organization  is  made  to 
understand  that  any  position  is  open  to  him  pro- 
vided he  can  show  greater  efficiency  than  the 
incumbent.  While  most  of  the  force  have  grown 
up  within  the  organization,  not  all  have  been 
started  at  the  minimum  salary  nor  promoted  be- 
cause of  length  of  service.  The  former  is  in- 
sisted upon,  and  the  latter  urged,  by  all  friends 
of  Civil  Service. 

Imagine  such  a  concern  as  I  have  described, 
depending  upon  an  outside  commission  to  ex- 
amine and  certify  the  people  whom  it  might 
employ  in  its  clerical  and  technical  force,  and 
being  bound  by  its  own  by-laws  not  to  employ 
anyone  selected  in  any  other  way.  Xo  business 
concern  could  face  competition  and  survive 
under  such  a  system.  Yet  everyone  recognizes 
that  when  applied  to  government  affairs.  Civil 
Service  is  not  only  the  best  but  the  only  way. 
I  am  not  criticising  it.  I  am  only  showing  the 
inevitable  result  if  we  change  the  purpose  of 


168  Vanishing  Landmarks 

government  from  the  greatest  liberty  institution 
in  the  world  to  a  corporation  for  the  transaction 
of  business. 

During  five  years  that  I  recruited  the  force 
of  the  Treasury  Department  from  names  certi- 
fied by  the  Civil  Service  Commission,  nothing 
occurred  to  engender  ill  feeling.  The  members 
of  the  Commission  and  the  officers  of  the  Treas- 
ury Department  understood  each  other  perfectly 
and  sympathized.  Every  member  of  the  Com- 
mission sought  as  best  he  could — subject,  of 
course,  to  the  restrictions  and  limitations  of  his 
office — to  serve  the  Treasury  Department,  and 
the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  believing  in  Civil 
Service,  reciprocated.  There  were,  however, 
some  rather  plain  and  expressive  letters  ex- 
changed. Believing  that  letters  that  actually 
j)assed  between  departments  are  the  best  proof 
of  conditions  as  they  exist,  I  have  inserted  in 
the  Appendix  the  material  correspondence  cov- 
ering four  distinct  cases. 

Some  of  the  letters  were  answered  by  personal 
interviews  but  enough  remains  to  show  the  cor- 
dial feeling  that  existed,  as  well  as  the  nature  of 
the  contentions.  It  also  reveals  the  earnestness 
with  which  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  sought 
some  relaxation  in  the  rules  which  friends  of  the 
system,  as  well  as  the  members  of  the  Commis- 


Civil  Service  169 

sion,  insist  must  be  rigidly  enforced,  and  which 
^vere  rigidly  enforced. 

The  last  case  cited  relates  to  a  request  for 
experienced  lawyers  for  special  agents  of  the 
Treasury  Department.  The  necessity  for  these 
will  be  apparent  to  every  experienced  business 
man. 

Many  of  the  tariff  rates  are  ad  valorem,  the 
duty  being  levied  upon  the  foreign  market  value 
of  the  imported  merchandise.  Importers  are  re- 
quired to  enter  their  goods  at  the  price  at  which 
such  articles  are  usually  bought  and  sold  in  the 
country  of  their  origin.  Undervaluation  by  un- 
scrupulous importers  is  the  most  common  way 
of  defrauding  the  government.  Cases  of 
alleged  undervaluation  are  tried  by  the  Board  of 
General  Appraisers,  at  which  the  importers  are 
represented  by  lawyers  who  make  a  specialty  of 
this  class  of  cases.  They  are  not  only  men  of 
experience  but  many  of  them  possess  great  nat- 
ural aptitude.  Some,  I  suppose,  make  as  high 
as  fifty  thousand  dollars  per  annum.  The  gov- 
ernment is  represented  by  attorneys  who  receive, 
if  I  remember  correctly,  three  thousand  dollars 
per  annum,  and  the  cases  are  usually  prepared 
by  special  agents,  or  special  employees,  who  re- 
ceive from  fifteen  hundred  to  two  thousand 
dollars  per  annum.     The  government  is  at  a 


170  Vanishing  Landmarks 

tremendous  disadvantage.  I  have  heard  it  esti- 
mated that  the  Treasury  loses  two  hundred  mil- 
hon  dollars  per  annum  through  undervaluations. 
I  think  this  is  excessive  but  unquestionably  it 
runs  into  tens  of  millions. 

I  desired  several  country  lawyers  who  had 
had  actual  experience  in  trying  cases,  and  asked 
the  Civil  Service  Commission  to  provide  an 
eligible  list.  The  need  of  capable  men  in  this 
particular  branch  of  the  service  is  well  illustrated 
by  the  following  incidents. 

Certain  importers  were  entering  their  mer- 
chandise, which  had  been  paid  for  in  Indian 
rupees,  as  costing  the  bullion  value  of  rupees, 
about  twenty  cents.  England  was  maintaining 
the  parity  of  the  rupee  at  about  fifty  cents  in 
our  money.  The  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  cer- 
tified that  the  rupee  was  worth  fifty  cents  and 
directed  that  duties  be  collected  accordingly.  As 
was  anticipated,  the  importers  all  paid  under 
protest  and  one  of  them  prosecuted  an  appeal. 
A  decision  against  the  government  was  rendered 
by  the  Board  of  General  Appraisers  and  by  all 
the  courts  including  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States.  I  ordered  that  another  case  be 
made  and  gave  instructions  how  it  should  be 
prepared.  Again,  much  to  my  surprise,  the  gov- 
ernment  was   defeated.      Investigation   showed 


Civil  Service  171 

that  the  second  case  had  been  prepared  exactly 
like  the  first.  More  detailed  instructions  were 
given  and  the  government  was  successful,  and 
more  than  one  million  dollars  that  had  been  paid 
by  importers  under  protest,  was  saved  to  the 
government  and  at  least  two  hundred  thousand 
dollars  per  annum  from  then  until  now.  Any 
country  lawyer  with  a  general  practice  would 
have  known  how  to  prepare  and  present  the 
case  in  the  first  instance. 

The  Treasury  Department  has  several  special 
agents  in  Europe  whose  business  it  is  to  look 
after  and  discover  evidence  of  undervaluation, 
as  well  as  other  frauds  upon  the  revenues  of  the 
country.  The  Department  knew  that  certain 
merchandise  was  viciously  undervalued,  but  the 
special  agents  all  failed  to  get  material  evidence. 
Special  employees  were  not  then  under  Civil 
Service  and  I  got  an  up-state  lawyer  from  New 
York  to  accept  a  position  as  special  employee, 
sent  him  to  Europe  and  he  came  back  with 
evidence  that  secured  advances  in  valuations 
which  saved  the  government  perhaps  fifty  thou- 
sand dollars  a  year  from  one  importer  alone. 

Appendix-  "D"  will  show  the  material  corre- 
spondence concerning  this  particular  request  for 
experienced  trial  lawyers.  My  first  request  is 
dated  September  20,  1905;  my  second,  October 


172  Vanishing  Landmarks 

14th  of  the  same  year.  Finally  the  Commission 
replied  and  its  first  letter  bears  date  of  Decem- 
ber 2,  1905.  It  mentions  oral  requests  also 
having  been  made.  Several  examinations  were 
held  but  up  to  the  time  I  left  the  Treasury 
Department,  March  4,  1907,  no  eligible  list  had 
been  provided  containing  a  single  lawyer  who 
had  ever  prepared  or  tried  a  case  in  any  court. 
The  department  needed  at  least  six,  could  have 
profitably  used  twelve,  but  could  not  and  did 
not  get  one.  If  interested  read  Appendix  "D." 
You  will  detect  enough  spice  to  give  it  a  flavor 
not  its  own. 

The  correspondence  set  out  In  Appendix  "C" 
has  reference  to  a  tobacco  examiner.  Tobacco 
intended  for  Florida  was  being  imported  from 
Cuba  at  a  certain  inland  city  and  then  shipped 
back  to  Tampa  and  Key  West.  The  duty  on 
unstemmed  wrapper  tobacco  was  at  that  time 
$1.85  per  pound  and  only  35  cents  per  pound 
on  unstemmed  filler  tobacco.  When  any  bale 
of  tobacco  contained  more  than  fifteen  per  cent 
wrapper,  the  entire  bale  was  dutiable  as  wrapper. 
There  was  a  further  provision  that  tobacco  from 
two  or  more  provinces  or  dependencies,  if  mixed, 
should  be  dutiable  at  $1.85  per  pound,  regardless 
of  its  character.  Naturally,  a  tobacco  examiner 
should  know  something  about  tobacco.     In  fact, 


Civil  Service  173 

that  is  the  only  subject  that  a  tobacco  examiner 
need  know  anything  about.  The  correspondence 
will  show  the  efforts  made  to  secure  one  and 
the  desire  of  the  Civil  Service  Commission  to 
aid,  as  well  as  the  disaster  which  it  believed 
would  follow  if  the  Treasury  Department  was 
allowed  any  voice  in  the  manner  of  the  examina- 
tion or  in  classification  of  those  who  took  the 
same. 

Appendix  "B"  has  reference  to  a  tea  exam- 
iner, another  position  that,  in  the  opinion  of 
the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  should  be  filled 
by  an  expert. 

The  correspondence  with  reference  to  a  to- 
bacco examiner  began  some  time  in  1904.  My 
first  rejection  of  each  of  the  three  names  certi- 
fied as  being  eligible  is  dated  December  15,  1904. 
The  request  for  a  tea  examiner  was  made  some- 
what later.  I  quote  a  paragraph  from  the  Civil 
Service  Commission's  letter  of  December  9, 
1905,  which,  though  written  with  special  refer- 
ence to  the  request  for  eligil)le  trial  lawyers, 
mentions  both  tobacco  and  tea  examiners: 

"Your  attention  is  also  invited  to  the  recent 
examination  for  tea  examiner  and  tobacco  exam- 
iner at  the  Port  of  .     Owing  to 

objections  by  your  Department  to  eligibles  cer- 
tified, it  became  necessary  to  hold  three  examina- 


1 74  Vanishing  Landmarks 

tions  before  a  selection  was  made  for  tobacco 
examiner  and  two  examinations  before  a  selec- 
tion was  made  for  tea  examiner.  The  exami- 
nations finally  resulted  in  the  selection  of  the 
temporary  employees,  who,  in  the  judgment  of 
the  Commission,  after  careful  investigation,  have 
no  unusual  qualifications  for  the  duties  to  be 
performed  and  came  in  at  the  advanced  age  of 
sixty-three  years.  It  seemed  to  the  Commission 
so  apparent  that  the  examinations  in  question 
had  not  resulted  in  securing  to  the  government 
the  services  of  the  most  suitable  competitors, 
that  it  became  necessary  for  it  to  recommend  to 
the  President  that  it  be  relieved  of  all  responsi- 
bility for  these  examinations  and  on  November 
18th,  the  President  placed  in  the  excepted  class, 
one  examiner  of  tea  and  one  examiner  of  to- 
bacco at  the  Port  of  ,  which  em- 
ployees do  not  now  have  the  status  of  competi- 
tive employees." 

It  will  be  noted  that  the  Civil  Service  Com- 
mission itself  finally  recognized  such  a  weakness 
in  the  system  that  it  consented  and  even  recom- 
mended that  Treasury  officials  be  permitted  to 
select  one  examiner  of  tea  and  one  examiner  of 
tobacco  at  07ie  port,  though  the  last  phrase 
quoted  seems  to  betray  a  slight  apprehension 
of   disaster  resulting   from   there   being   in   the 


Civil  Service  175 

United  States  two  examiners,  each  requiring 
very  accurate  and  technical  qualifications,  "who 
do  not  now  have  the  status  of  competitive 
employees." 

Appendix  "A"  is  limited  to  two  letters  writ- 
ten by  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to  the 
Civil  Service  Commission  refusing  to  approve 
rules  and  regulations  which  it  proposed  to 
promulgate,  unless  the  President  so  directed.  I 
will  add  that  the  President  did  not  so  direct. 
In  this  instance,  as  in  the  last  two,  the  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury  had  his  way. 

DIPLOMATIC    SERVICE. 

While  on  this  subject,  I  cannot  refrain  from 
discussing  Civil  Service  as  applied  to  our  diplo- 
matic and  consular  service. 

There  is  quite  a  widespread  demand  that 
everything  shall  be  taken  out  of  politics,  and  a 
presumption  is  indulged,  that,  if  this  were  done, 
all  of  the  evils  which  now  inhere  in  representa- 
tive government  would  be  cured.  Undoubtedly 
men  have  been  rewarded  for  political  service 
with  appointments  to  foreign  fields,  and  some 
of  these  appointees  have  been  wanting  both  in 
business  experience  and  education  as  well  as  in 
aptitude.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  most  unfor- 
tunate  if  only   those   who   are   disqualified   for 


176  Vanishin^i;  Landmarks 

positions  of  responsibility  are  interested  in 
politics.  If  every  public  position  at  home  and 
abroad  were  to  be  filled  with  those  who  either 
take  no  interest  in  public  affairs,  or  by  those 
who  are  incapable  of  exerting  any  political  influ- 
ence, do  you  think  the  service  would  be  mate- 
rially improved? 

The  further  criticism  is  indulged  that  adminis- 
trations make  foreign  api^ointments  from  among 
their  j^arty  friends,  and  utterly  ignore  adherents 
of  the  opposite  political  faith.  Has  it  ever 
occurred  to  you  that  when  a  man  is  unable  to 
find  as  good  and  able  men  among  those  who 
believe  in  political  doctrines  which  he  advocates 
as  are  available  among  his  opj)onents,  he  ought 
in  justice  to  himself  to  renounce  allegiance  to 
the  party  he  believes  in,  and  join  the  ranks  of 
those  with  whom  he  disagrees? 

Undoubtedly,  the  United  States  has  sent  some 
chumps  abroad,  but  anyone  who  has  lived  long 
in  Washington  must  have  recognized  that  other 
countries  also  occasionally  have  chumps  in  their 
diplomatic  service.  After  some  years'  observa- 
tion, I  asked  John  Hay,  then  Secretary  of 
State,  whose  experience  at  home  and  observation 
abroad  better  qualified  him  to  speak  than  any 
other  man  in  America,  how  our  diplomatic  and 
consular   service   compared   with   that   of   other 


Civil  Service  177 

countries.  Promptly  and  without  hesitation,  he 
said:  "It  is  universally  recognized  everywhere 
that  American  foreign  service  is  the  best  in  the 
world." 

One  might  as  well  expect  to  develop  a  suc- 
cessful trial  lawyer  by  confining  him  to  a  law 
school  all  his  life,  or  a  successful  business  man 
by  keeping  him  indefinitely  in  a  business  college, 
as  to  expect  to  produce  an  efficient  representa- 
tive of  American  interests  abroad  by  requiring 
him  to  spend  the  most  virile  period  of  his  life  in 
studying  how  to  represent  these  interests  and 
all  the  while  keeping  him  out  of  touch  with  the 
interests  whicli  he  is  to  represent.  A  lawyer 
should  understand  his  client's  business,  if  pos- 
sible, better  than  his  client.  If  he  is  to  represent 
mining  interests,  he  should  know  metallurgy,  all 
processes  of  mining,  reduction  of  ores  and  min- 
ing practices,  as  well  as  mining  laws.  Before  a 
man  can  successfully,  advantageously  and  wisely 
represent  American  interests  abroad,  he  nmst 
understand  American  interests  at  home.  He 
must  have  a  practical  knowledge  of  what  Amer- 
icans require  in  foreign  countries,  and  the  nat- 
ural effect  at  home  of  the  things  he  is  trying  to 
do  abroad. 

When  confined  to  clerical  positions.  Civil 
Service  is  a  lesser  evil  than  anything  else  that 


178  Vanishing  Landmarks 

has  been  tried,  but  it  falls  far  short  of  being  a 
panacea.  When  applied  to  positions  requiring 
scientific,  professional,  technical  or  expert 
knowledge,  it  is  an  utter  failure.  If  the  govern- 
ment extends  beyond  its  appropriate  functions, 
and  enters  the  business  arena,  Civil  Service  will 
result,  fii'st,  in  the  greatest  possible  inefficiency; 
second,  in  political  manipulation  and  control  of 
everything,  and,  third,  in  transforming  a  hith- 
erto virile  and  self-reliant  people  into  a  race  of 
pap  seekers.  If  the  government  pursues  its 
present  trend  and  enters  one  field  of  business 
activity  after  another  it  will  logically  end  with 
everyone  on  the  government  payroll  and  all  of 
us  working  for  the  rest  of  us  and  taxing  our- 
selves to  pay  pensions  to  ourselves.  When  a 
government  once  enters  the  field  of  paternalism 
there  is  no  place  where  it  can  logically  stop. 


CHAPTER  XXIV 

CIVIL   SERVICE   RETIREMENT 

Before  increasing  the  business  activities  of  the 
government  and  creating  an  enormous  army  of 
government  ofilcials^  clerks  and  employees^  all 
under  Civil  Service,  it  is  well  to  consider  some 
feasible  plan  of  retirement,  for  it  is  a  question 
that  will  not  down. 

The  discussion  of  Civil  Service  as  applied  to 
governnieiiial  industrial  operations  will  be  in- 
complete unless  it  includes  the  question  of  retire- 
ment. Shall  those  who  have  been  for  many 
years  on  the  government  payroll  be  pensioned? 
With  few  exceptions  that  is  what  the  present 
Civil  Service  employees  desire.  They  claim  to 
have  served  their  country  as  faithfully,  and 
much  longer,  than  soldiers  in  the  army,  and 
therefore  are  entitled  to  equal  recognition  and 
honor. 

JNIost  thoughtful  people  are  able  to  note  some 
marked  differences.  Few  who  are  physically  fit 
fail  when  thej''  seek  admission  to  the  army  or 
navy,  but  I  have  known  quite  a  number  who 
have  sought  government  positions  in  vain.  In 
addition  to  this  the  pay  of  the  soldier  is  very 

179 


180  Vanishing  Landmarks 

meagre,  while  that  of  civil  service  clerks,  in 
normal  times,  is  at  least  fifty  per  cent  higher 
than  the  same  grade  of  service  commands  in  the 
business  world.  The  question  resolves  itself 
therefore  into  this  proposition:  Shall  those  who 
have  secured  government  positions  and  held 
them  for  thirty  years,  when  there  have  been 
thirty  thousand  other  citizens  equally  patriotic, 
and  equally  competent,  who  have  sought  govern- 
ment employment  in  vain,  be  rewarded  and 
pensioned  because  of  their  good  fortune,  and  at 
the  expense  of  their  less  favored  brothers  and 
sisters? 

The  same  argument  applies  to  old  age  pen- 
sions. Most  red-blooded  Americans  are  willing 
to  assume  responsibility  for  the  support  of  them- 
selves and  their  families,  and  gladly  contribute 
in  some  fair  and  equitable  manner,  through 
appropriate  processes  of  taxation,  towards  pen- 
sioning those  who  bear  arms  in  defense  of  our 
common  flag,  and  for  the  dignity  of  our  country, 
and  they  are  also  willing  to  pay  their  share 
tow^ards  the  maintenance  of  the  helpless  and  the 
unfortunate  few.  But  it  is  no  evidence  of  yel- 
low that  some  object  to  the  burden  of  paying 
pensions  to  men  and  women  who  have  no  other 
claim  thereto  than  that  they  have  grown  old  and 
have  failed  to  provide  for  themselves. 


Civil  Service  Retirement  181 

Take  the  case  home  and  apply  it  to  yourself 
and  your  family.  Do  you  desire  the  government 
to  promise  you  and  your  children  a  pension  inde- 
pendent of  the  manner  in  which  you  and  they 
acquit  yourselves?  Or  would  you  prefer  to  face 
the  future  in  the  belief  that  if  you  win,  through 
merit,  the  rewards  of  victory  will  be  yours  to 
enjoy,  and  if  you  lose  j^ou  will  be  expected  to 
suffer  the  consequences,  In  other  words  do  j^ou 
desire  the  government  to  pension  you  simply 
because  you  hold  a  poor  hand  or  play  a  good 
hand  badly?  What  effect  do  you  think  the 
promise  of  old  age  pension  would  have  upon  the 
rising  generation?  Is  not  the  youth  of  America 
already  sufficiently  wanting  in  self-reliance? 

The  only  other  way  thus  far  proposed  by 
which  the  government  shall  support  its  em- 
ployees in  old  age,  is  by  means  of  guardianship. 
This  plan  seems  to  proceed  upon  the  theory  that 
those  who  are  fortunate  enough  to  secure  gov- 
ernment positions,  are  necessarily  unable  to  look 
after  their  own  aiFairs,  and  therefore  are  entitled 
to  a  guardian.  The  proposition  is  that  the  gov- 
ernment shall  take  charge  of  a  portion  of  the 
earnings  of  this  favored  set  of  American  citi- 
zens— withhold  part  of  their  salary  and  deal  it 
out  to  them  as  a  mother  does  candy  to  her  baby 
lest  it  overeat  or  consume  it  too  soon.     It  is  a 


182  Vaniskhi;^'  Landmarks 

pretty  weak  citizen  who  needs  a  guardian,  and 
those  who  do — provided  they  are  coinpos  mentis 
and  fourteen  years  of  age — are  entitled  under 
the  laws  of  most  states  to  select  their  own. 

Five  years'  experience  led  me  to  recognize 
that  new  clerks  as  a  rule  are  better  than  old 
ones.  Those  who  come  with  any  enthusiasm 
whatever  make  very  rapid  advancement  in  effi- 
ciency, but  in  a  very  few  years  the  enthusiasm 
vanishes  and  hope  of  advancement  is  based  en- 
tirely on  seniority  of  service. 

Before  leaving  the  Department  I  recom- 
mended— and  am  now  more  convinced  than  ever 
of  its  wisdom — that  government  positions  should 
be  filled,  as  now,  under  the  rules  of  Civil  Service 
but  that  all  new  clerks  should  come  facing  a 
statute  limiting  the  periods  of  their  service  to 
five  years.  Five  years  of  government  service, 
especially  in  the  city  of  Washington,  is  in  itself 
an  education.  In  addition  there  are  excellent 
night  schools  where  clerks  can  and  do  pursue 
their  studies.  Before  Civil  Service  was  inaugu- 
rated thousands  secured  appointments  in  Wash- 
ington, graduated  in  law  or  medicine  and  went 
forth  familiar  with  the  official  atmosphere  and 
prepared  to  give  the  lie  to  those  in  every  town 
who  teach  that  the  Capitol  of  the  Nation  is  a 
den  of  thieves.    John  W.  Gates  got  his  start  in 


Civil  Service  Retirement  183 

life  as  a  sixty  dollar  per  month  clerk  in  the  Post 
Office  Department  and  spent  his  evenings  writ- 
ing letters  for  Senator  John  A.  Logan,  and 
meeting  the  big  men  of  the  nation  who  called. 

A  limited  period  in  college  is  of  great  ad- 
vantage but  it  would  ruin  any  boy  to  keep  him 
year  after  year  in  the  same  classes,  going  over 
the  same  subjects,  reciting  to  the  same  tutors, 
getting  nothing  new  and  all  the  while  segre- 
gated from  all  practical  things  of  life.  Why 
give  these  plums  of  official  position — and  they 
are  no  less  plums  because  secured  under  Civil 
Service — to  young  men  and  women  for  life 
when  they  might  be  passed  around  with  great 
advantage  to  that  larger  body  of  equally  deserv- 
ing citizens  who  would  be  benefited  by  a  brief 
experience  in  public  service. 

The  present  force  should  be  permitted  to  com- 
plete the  tenor  of  their  natural  lives  in  the 
service.  The  new  rule  if  adopted  should  apply 
only  to  those  taken  on  after  the  enactment  of 
the  law  limiting  the  period  of  service  to  five 
years.  Exceptions  would  have  to  be  made  in 
cases  requiring  technical,  professional  or  scien- 
tific knowledge.  Provision  would  also  have  to 
be  made  whereby  by  executive  order,  on  the 
recommendation  of  heads  of  departments,  the 
specially  competent  could  be  retained. 


CHAPTER  XXV 

PROPERTY  BY  COMMON   CONSENT 

The  desire  that  the  government  shall  enlarge  its 
functions  so  as  to  prevent  large  accumulations,  has 
led  to  the  verge  of  confiscation  of  property. 
Several  proposed  methods  of  partial  or  total  con- 
fiscation are  discussed. 

Originally  no  one  held  property  by  common 
consent,  and  in  the  very  early  history  of  the  race 
I  sup23ose  no  one  gave  a  thought  to  what  we 
now  call  "property  rights."  Even  now  savages 
seldom  claim  ownership  to  anything  beyond  a 
dog,  weapons  of  the  chase,  possibly  a  horse  or  a 
canoe.  Gradually  the  divinely  implanted  desire 
for  ownership,  sovereignty,  independence,  led 
the  more  advanced  to  assert  exclusive  rights,  but 
still  they  held  little  if  anything  by  conunon  con- 
sent. Each  held  what  he  could  by  force.  Under 
these  conditions  civilization  had  its  birth. 

As  the  race  advanced  and  began  to  feel  the 
throb  of  God-like  impulses,  and  to  live  in  har- 
mony with  divine  law,  consent  to  proprietorship 
developed.  For  several  centuries,  in  all  civilized 
countries,   with  here   and   there   a  relapse   into 

1S4 


Property  by  Common  Consent         185 

barbarism  like  the  French  Revolution  of  the 
18th  century,  and  the  Russian  Revolution  of  the 
20th  century,  property  rights  and  some  measure 
of  personal  liberty  have  gone  hand  in  hand  and 
have  been  quite  generally  recognized  and  re- 
spected. 

CONSENT  WITHDRAWN 

For  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  an  English 
speaking  people  consent  to  personal  ownership 
is  being  gradually  withdrawn.  Unless  you  have 
studied  popular  audiences,  analyzed  current 
magazine  articles  and  scrutinized  modern  legis- 
lation, probably  you  have  little  conception  of  the 
proportion,  even  among  the  respectable  and  high 
minded,  who  are  committed  to  some  degree  of 
confiscation. 

At  a  joint  debate  on  single  tax  under  the 
auspices  of  an  organization  like  many  styled 
"Academy  of  Political  Science"  or  "Political 
Science  Club"  or  "Science  of  Government 
League,"  which  in  this  instance  was  an  adjunct 
of  one  of  our  very  large  universities,  I  called 
for  a  direct  expression  from  the  audience  upon 
the  clear-cut  proposition  of  confiscation  of  all 
private  property.  Two-thirds  of  the  audience 
promptly  responded  in  its  favor.  That  audience 
was  composed  of  "liigh-brows."    They  were  men 


186  Vanishing  Landmarks 

and  women  who  read  magazines,  attended  lec- 
tures, belonged  to  "uplift"  associations  and  in- 
dulged in  mental  processes  which  they  thought 
was  thinking.  I  had  had  similar  experiences  in 
joint  debates  on  socialism,  but  had  never  before 
struck  a  bunch  of  incipient  anarcliists  of  such 
apparent  respectability. 

Some  years  ago  I  had  the  privilege  of  ad- 
dressing an  association  of  Socialist  Clubs  at 
Cooper  Union.  While  I  have  addressed  many 
better  read  audiences  I  have  never  seen  one  that 
had  read  more.  Many  of  them  did  little  else 
but  read.  In  addition  they  were  a  most  sincere 
and  good  intentioned  body  of  men  and  women. 
There  are,  as  every  one  knows  who  has  come  in 
contact  with  them,  somewhat  more  than  fifty- 
seven  varieties  of  socialists,  every  one  of  which 
was  well  represented  that  evening.  They  were 
courteous,  they  were  respectful,  they  listened 
with  manifest  interest;  but  it  was  easily  discern- 
ible that  they  considered  our  civilization  wrong 
and  harmful  in  the  extreme.  One  could  see  it, 
feel  and  taste  it.  The  very  atmosphere  con- 
veyed to  every  sense  the  unmistakable  evidence 
that  that  great  body  of  men  and  women  thor- 
oughly believed  that  what  they  termed  "Cap- 
italism" had  its  heel  upon  their  necks.  They 
were  not  rebellious,  but  it  was  evident  they  did 


Property  by  Common  Consent         187 

not  intend  anyone  to  be  misled  into  supposing 
that  they  were  unconscious  of  their  conditions, 
or  that  they  intended  to  acquiesce  longer  than 
necessary. 

In  the  campaign  of  1918  the  "single-taxers" 
of  California  made  their  third  and  great  attempt 
to  confiscate  land  values  in  that  beautiful  state. 
The  issue  of  July  20th  of  "The  Great  Adven- 
ture," an  official  organ  of  the  single-tax  propa- 
ganda, printed  upon  its  front  page  in  heavy 
double  leaded  type  this  announcement:  "Single 
tax  tdll  put  these  big  land  values  into  the  public 
treasury  and  leave  the  Ground  Hogs  nothing  to 
rent  but  the  actual  value  of  their  buildings" 

The  January,  1918,  number  of  "Everyman," 
another  of  their  official  organs,  contained  a  well- 
considered  article  lauding  conditions  in  Russia, 
and  promising  the  same  for  California.  I  quote 
briefly:  "The  people  of  Russia,  who  only  yes- 
terday were  semi-starving  slaves  to  a  tinsel  aris- 
tocracy, are  now  for  the  first  time  living  upon 
their  own  lands,  in  their  own  homes,  and  work- 
ing in  their  own  fields  and  factories.  They  have 
dispossessed  landlords  and  profiteers;  and  all 
who  work  have  plenty.  People  do  not  starve 
where  there  is  none  to  take  the  food  out  of  their 
mouths.  Famine  is  a  result  of  human  exploita- 
tion.     When   the   people   of   any   country    go 


1 88  Vanish in^  Landmarks 

hungry  it  is  because  they  are  denied  access  to 
natural  resources.  The  people  of  Russia  have 
taken  their  natural  resources,  and  also  their  in- 
dustries and  they  will  not  go  hungry.  .  .  . 
Out  of  darkest  Russia  has  come  the  great  light 
of  actual  freedom;  and  there  is  every  reason  to 
Jiope  she  will  soon  have  the  weakest  government 
in  the  world,  which  means,  of  course,  the 
strongest,  bravest,  truest  and  most  united  peo- 
ple. .  .  .  That  is  what  we  are  striving  to 
do  in  California,  but  we  won't  stop  with  the  land. 
We  will  only  begin  there.  We  could  not  stop 
there;  the  tide  is  too  strong.  It  will  bear  us  on 
into  the  new  world  of  economic  friendship." 

The  same  issue  of  "Everyman"  gave  a  word 
picture,  for  the  truth  of  which  it  vouched,  of 
what  it  termed  "Zapataland" — 90,000  square 
miles  in  Mexico — where  it  claimed  confiscation 
had  wrought  its  legitimate  and  beneficial  results. 
It  claimed  the  same  conditions  would  be  accom- 
plished in  California  through  the  adoption  of 
the  single  tax  amendment  to  the  Constitution 
as  had  been  wrought  in  Mexico  with  the  musket. 
It  says:  "In  Zapataland  they  have  no  need  for 
money.  Is  it  food  you  want?  Go  to  the  market 
and  help  yourself.  Do  you  need  shoes  or  a  hat? 
Go  and  take  what  you  need !  Have  you  a  fancy 
for  jewelry?     Go  make  your  selection.     .     .     . 


Property  by  Common  Consent         189 

In  some  of  the  centers  the  women  of  Zapataland 
clamored  for  finger  rings  and  bracelets.  The 
elders  consulted.  They  melted  down  some  of 
the  church  ornaments,  and  in  a  few  months 
baskets  full  of  the  envious  shining  trinkets  were 
in  all  the  Plaza  shops.  Help  yourself.  .  .  . 
Labor  is  plentiful.  Everybody  wants  to  work 
at  least  a  few  hours  a  day — they  insist  upon  it. 
'Give  me  that  shovel!  You  have  been  digging 
there  for  a  couple  of  hours  or  more.  Let  me  dig 
awhile.'  'Here,  you,  stop  straining  yourself. 
Go  and  rest.  I  am  stronger  than  you.'  .  .  . 
In  IMexico,  the  propaganda  was  carried  on  with 
'30-30's'.  The  Zapata  army  went  from  valley 
to  valle}'-,  from  village  to  village,  and  dispos- 
sessed the  owners." 

Such  stuff  is  well  calculated  to  deceive  almost 
anyone  except  those  who  have  seen  a  IMexican. 
For  three  successive  campaigns  California  was 
flooded  with  that  class  of  literature,  its  boasted 
purpose  being  confiscation.  The  organization 
back  of  the  propaganda,  with  ample  endowment, 
purposes  to  use  California  as  an  object  lesson 
and  to  extend  the  principle  throughout  the 
nation. 

For  the  benefit  of  any  who  thus  far  have  not 
appreciated  the  gravity  of  this  most  plausible 
attack  upon  property  rights,  and  therefore  have 


190  Vanishing  Landmarks 

not  studied  the  question,  I  make  the  following 
brief  statement  of  the  case  as  it  appeals  to  a 
very  large  number. 

Henry  George,  the  great  apostle  of  single 
tax,  was  a  very  able  man.  I  do  not  say  he  was  a 
very  wise  man.  Great  intellects  frequently  lead 
to  great  errors. 

Every  advocate  of  single  tax  legislation  has 
been  a  faithful  disciple  of  Henry  George.  No 
one  has  added  a  new  argument,  stated  an  old 
argument  with  greater  force,  or  reached  a  dif- 
ferent conclusion.  None  of  his  followers  has 
ever  apologized  for  anything  Henry  George 
ever  said,  or  refused  to  stand  or  fall  with  the 
great  originator  of  the  scheme.  Therefore,  to 
quote  Henry  George  is  to  quote  the  best  author- 
ity, and  all  authority. 

I  propose,  therefore,  to  make  a  few  extracts 
from  Henry  George's  standard  work  on  the 
subject — the  great  text  book  of  single-taxers — 
"Progress  and  Poverty." 

He  begins  and  ends  his  argument  with  the 
proposition  that  God  made  the  land,  the  sea, 
and  the  air,  for  his  children  collectively,  and  has 
never  granted  the  exclusive  right  to  any  part 
thereof  to  king  or  subject.  All  pretended  grants 
and  conveyances,  therefore,  have  been  fictitious. 
Relying  upon  this  argument,  he  holds  that  all 


Property  by  Common  Consent         191 

natural  resources  still  belong  to  the  people  col- 
lectively, and  confiscation  in  the  interest  of  all 
is  justified. 

On  page  401  of  "Progress  and  Poverty," 
he  says:  "But  a  question  of  method  re- 
mains. How  shall  we  do  it?  We  should 
satisfy  the  law  of  justice.  We  should  meet 
all  economic  requirements  hy  at  one  stroke 
abolishing  all  private  titles,  declaring  all 
lands  public  property,  and  letting  it  out  to 
the  highest  bidder  in  lots  to  suit." 

On  page  403  he  saj^s:  "I  do  not  propose 
either  to  jDurchase,  or  to  confiscate  property 
in  land.  The  first  would  be  unjust;  the 
second  needless.  Let  the  individuals  who 
now  hold  it  still  retain,  if  they  want  to, 
possession  of  what  they  are  pleased  to  call 
their  land;  let  them  continue  to  call  it  their 
land;  let  them  buy,  and  sell,  and  bequeath 
and  devise  it.  We  may  safely  leave  them 
the  shell,  if  we  take  the  kernel.  It  is  not 
necessary  to  confiscate  land ;  it  is  only  neces- 
sary to  confiscate  rent." 

Again,  on  the  same  page,  he  says:  "We 
already  take  some  rent  in  taxation.  We 
have  only  to  make  some  changes  in  our 
mode  of  taxation  to  take  it  all." 


192  Vanishing  Landmarks 

Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  Henry  George,  with 
all  his  intellect,  was  mentally  dishonest.  His 
heart-beats  were  sympathetic,  but  his  mind 
wobbled.  He  was  able  to  perceive  nothing  dis- 
honest when  I  sold  my  acres,  or  my  lot,  invested 
the  proceeds  in  stocks  and  bonds,  and  then  by 
my  vote  exempted  my  property  from  taxation, 
and  placed  all  the  burdens  of  government  on  the 
purchaser  of  my  land. 

He  would  have  seen  no  injustice  in  a  govern- 
ment of  the  people  establishing  Rural  Credit 
Banks,  as  has  been  done,  loaning  millions,  with 
mortgages  as  security,  upon  lands  purchased 
from  the  government,  then  inducing  widows  and 
orphans  to  buy  securities  issued  against  these 
mortgages,  and  finally  taxing  the  value  of  the 
real  estate  away,  thus  leaving  the  widows  and 
orphans  to  beg  their  bread  from  door  to  door. 

The  American  people  are  inherently  and  in- 
tuitively honest  and  just.  Do  you  think  it 
would  be  just,  after  the  people,  through  their 
Congress  and  their  president,  had  granted  the 
homesteader  a  patent  title  in  fee  simple,  now  to 
tax  its  value  away?  As  Henry  George  says, 
the  effect  is  the  same  as  confiscation.  He  calls 
it  "taking  the  kernel  and  leaving  the  shell." 


CHAPTER  XXVI 

EQUALITY  OF  INCOME 

The  inevitable  effect  of  equalitj^  of  income,  assum- 
ing it  could  be  accomplished,  is  discussed. 

Two  or  three  years  ago  George  Bernard 
Shaw  had  a  j)rize  article  in  the  "Metropohtan" 
in  which  he  advocated  "Equahty  of  Income"  as 
a  panacea  for  all  the  ills  that  afflict  civilization. 
I  remember  he  urged  that  if  all  had  equal  in- 
comes the  race  would  be  improved;  for  there 
"would  be  greater  freedom  of  selection.  He 
seemed  to  deplore  the  fact  that  under  present 
conditions  "men  and  women  meet  in  parks  and 
other  public  places,  recognize  natural  affinity" 
so  promptly  responded  to  by  some  but  are  never- 
theless kept  apart  because  of  this  iniquitous  in- 
equality of  income.  However  much  the  man 
may  be  attracted  by  the  personality  of  the  lady 
he  will  not  humble  himself  to  make  advances  if 
she  gives  evidence  of  being  financially  beneath 
him;  while  his  advances  will  be  spurned  if  he 
bears  the  marks  of  a  more  meagre  income  than 
she  enjoys. 

193 


194  Vanishing  Landmarks 

It  was  the  same  old  free-love  doctrine,  and 
the  author  argued  at  length  to  show  that  in- 
equality of  income  thus  seriously  interferes  with 
the  free  course  of  "natural  affinity"  and  hence 
retards  the  coming  of  the  "superman."  He  did 
not  in  that  article  suggest  how  he  would  equalize 
incomes.  Suppose  we  study,  for  a  moment,  not 
how  to  accomplish  it,  but  the  effect  of  its  con- 
summation. 

If  equality  of  income  would  be  a  panacea 
now — if  it  would  solve  the  ills  we  have  and  pre- 
vent others — it  would  have  worked  well  from 
the  beginning.  Imagine  therefore  that  instead 
of  following  the  divinely  implanted  impulse  to 
acquire,  to  hold,  to  exercise  sovereignty,  to 
achieve,  the  race  had  remained  as  it  was  when 
it  had  no  income,  and  therefore  when  no  in- 
equality of  income  existed.  Would  churches 
and  cathedrals  have  been  built?  Would  colleges 
and  universities  have  been  founded?  Would  art 
and  literature  have  flourished?  Would  America 
have  been  discovered?  Equality  of  income 
would  have  left  Queen  Isabella  with  no  jewels 
to  sell  with  which  to  purchase  the  Santa  Maria. 
In  fact  there  would  have  been  no  Santa  Maria 
to  purchase.  The  race  would  have  remained 
where  the  race  started.  Inequality  of  income 
began    when    incomes    began.      Inequality    of 


Equality  of  Income  195 

income  marks  the  birth  of  civilization,  and  if 
civihzation  ever  dies  "equality  of  income"  should 
be  the  title  of  its  dirge. 

The  wealth  of  the  United  States  is  about 
twenty-five  hundred  dollars  per  capita.  Assume, 
if  you  please,  that  all  our  property  could  be  and 
has  been  converted  into  cash.  Then  assume  that 
the  rest  of  the  world  is  able  and  willing  to 
supply  our  every  need  and  our  every  want  so 
long  as  our  money  lasts  I  We  would  eat  up  and 
wear  out  the  accumulation  of  the  centuries  in 
about  three  years;  and  henceforth  would  go 
about  clothed  in  skins,  and  our  own  skins  at 
that.  The  world  lives  from  the  income  and 
accretion  resulting  from  the  accumulations  of 
the  ages,  but  in  order  to  make  it  effective  it 
must  be  kept  in  circulation,  going  first  to  labor, 
thence  to  the  producer — the  manager — by  way 
of  the  merchant,  and  again  to  labor. 


CHAPTER  XXVII 

AN   HISTORICAL  WARNING 

The  teachings  of  Rousseau^  which  logically 
resulted  in  the  French  revolution,  wherein  the 
confiscation  of  property  was  the  prime  purpose, 
is  compared  with  some  of  the  teachings  of  today. 
History  that  should  constitute  an  ample  warning 
is  cited. 

We  have  been  sowing  what  Rousseau  was 
permitted  to  sow  and  from  which  was  reaped 
the  French  revohition.  The  "Social  Coiitract" 
taught  that  property  as  understood  today  did 
not  exist.  The  citizen  simply  held  it  in  trust  for 
society.  For  under  the  "Social  Contract"  each 
"surrenders  himself  up  absolutely,  just  as  he 
actually  stands,  he  and  all  his  resources,  of  which 
his  property  forms  a  part."  The  next  logical 
step  in  the  revolution  was  to  discharge  or  recall 
the  trustee,  and  thus  vest  the  property  again  in 
society  itself.  That  was  done.  George  W. 
Hinman  in  "Can  We  Learn  Anything  from 
History?"  summarizes  this  recall  of  trusteeships 
as   follows:      "Society   proceeded   to   recall   its 

196 


An  Historical  Warning  197 

trustees  as  fast  as  'Society'  needed  the  property. 
It  recalled  the  trusteeships  of  all  the  church 
property,  $800,000,000;  of  all  the  property  of 
exiles,  $600,000,000;  of  all  the  property  of  the 
guillotined  and  condemned,  $200,000,000;  of  all 
the  property  of  hospitals  and  charitable  institu- 
tions, $200,000,000;  of  all  the  state  domains 
sold  and  rented  in  the  last  three  hundred  years, 
$4C0,000,000;  of  all  the  gold  and  silver  vessels 
and  specie,  $100,000,000;  of  all  the  property  of 
other  institutions,  valuables  and  common  goods, 
$7C0,000,000.  Then  it  recalled  the  trusteeships 
of  coats  and  trousers,  growing  crops,  pots,  ket- 
tles, pans  and  mattresses.  In  one  town  it  re- 
called the  trusteeship  of  ten  thousand  pairs  of 
shoes  from  ten  thousand  pairs  of  feet,  and  thus 
condemned  ten  thousand  former  custodians  of 
this  property  to  go  about  their  tasks  barefooted 
in  the  snow." 

Not  only  this  but  the  government  extended 
confiscation  by  means  of  income  tax  until  the 
whole  of  every  income  in  excess  of  six  hundred 
dollars  was  to  be  taken.  Taine,  the  historian, 
summarizes  thus:  "Whatever  the  grand  terms 
of  liberty,  equality  and  fraternity  may  be,  with 
which  the  revolution  graces  itself,  it  is  in  its 
essence  a  transfer  of  property.  In  this  alone 
consists  its  chief  support,  its  enduring  energy, 


198  Vanishing  Landmarks 

its   primary   impulse   and   its   historical   signifi- 
cance." 

Hinman  summarizes  thus:  "The  people  in  a 
body  is  infallible;  unlike  individuals  it  can  make 
no  mistakes.  Therefore  we  should  not  trust 
government  to  individual  representatives  or 
agents  but  to  the  pure  and  direct  democracy. 
But  we  cannot  have  direct  democracy  at  its 
purest  without  equality  of  condition.  To  get 
equality  of  condition  we  must  get  equality  of 
property.  To  get  equality  of  property  we  must 
correct  the  inequalities  of  the  past  and  present. 
Therefore  to  correct  these  inequalities  we  invent 
the  theory  of  trusteeship  of  property,  recall  the 
trustees,  and  take  possession  of  all  unequal 
properties  in  the  name  of  society. 

"That  is  the  whole  cycle;  that  is  the  great 
revolution!  Twenty-five  years  in  preparation, 
eleven  years  in  actual  practice,  fourteen  years 
in  immediate  consequences;  fifty  years  all  told 
and  that  is  sum,  substance  and  essence  from  the 
beginning  to  the  end,  a  transfer  of  property! 
A  transfer  of  property  without  compensation! 
A  confiscation  of  property  beyond  appeal  and 
beyond  recall!  There  were  movements  also 
against  the  church,  and  against  the  family,  but 
the  transfer  of  property  far  surpassed  them  both 
in  size  and  in  significance. 


An  Historical  Warning  199 

"That  the  convulsions  attending  the  movement 
were  more  spectacular  than  the  movement  itself; 
that  a  million  persons  were  stabbed,  drowned, 
shot,  beheaded  and  hunted  to  death  within  the 
borders  of  the  nation;  that  wars  were  started 
that  strewed  Europe  with  5,000,000  dead;  that 
the  oppression  was  far  more  ferocious  than 
under  Louis  XIV,  that  the  waste  of  government 
was  arithmetically  four  times  greater  than  under 
the  most  wasteful  monarchy ;  that  a  whole  nation 
was  bathed  in  blood,  bankrupted  in  morals,  and 
rotted  in  character  to  the  core — all  of  these 
things,  hideous  and  appalling  as  they  may  be, 
distracting  and  absorbing  as  they  may  be,  are 
still  but  as  colossal  incidents.  The  chief  move- 
ment through  this  sea  of  blood  and  wilderness 
of  death  was  the  transfer  of  property/* 

Nevertheless,  Robespierre — the  bloodiest  man 
who  had  ever  lived,  the  bloodiest  man  who  ever 
has  lived  outside  of  Russia,  and  the  bloodiest 
man  who  ever  will  live  unless  socialism  gets  con- 
trol in  the  United  States — was  an  idealist.  He 
resigned  the  bench  rather  than  pronounce  sen- 
tence of  death  upon  a  convicted  criminal.  He 
read  Rousseau's  "Social  Contract"  every  day. 
He  was  the  leader  in  the  "uplift"  movement  of 
the  age  in  which  he  lived  and  sought  to  produce 
Utopian  conditions  of  "liberty,  equality  and  fra- 


200  Vanishing  Landmarks 

ternity"  throughout  France.  While  an  Inter- 
nationaHst  he  sought  to  reform  and  transform 
France  before  extending  his  field  of  influence. 

But  being  self-willed  as  well  as  self-opinion- 
ated, at  the  first  appearance  of  opposition  he 
threw  down  the  challenge.  There  was  "some 
fight  in  him  and  he  liked  it."  He  appealed 
directly  to  the  people  and  condemned  to  the 
guillotine  everyone  who  had  the  temerity  to 
resist  his  efforts  to  ameliorate  human  conditions. 
While  seeking  everywhere  for  property  to  con- 
fiscate, and  heads  to  guillotine,  he  made  the 
most  elaborate  speech  of  his  career: 

"Our  purjiose  is  to  substitute  morality  for 
egotism,  honesty  for  honor,  principles  for  cus- 
toms, duties  for  proprieties,  the  empire  of  rea- 
son for  the  tyranny  of  habit,  contempt  of  vice 
for  indifference  to  misfortune,  dignity  for  inso- 
lence, nobility  for  vanity,  love  of  glory  for  love 
of  money,  good  people  for  society,  merit  for 
intrigue,  genius  for  intellectual  brilliancy,  the 
charm  of  contentment  for  the  satiety  of  pleasure, 
the  majesty  of  man  for  the  high  breeding  of  the 
great,  a  magnanimous,  powerful  and  happy  peo- 
ple for  amiable,  frivolous  and  wretched  people; 
that  is  to  say,  every  virtue  and  miracle  of  the 
republic  in  the  place  of  the  vices  and  absurdities 
of  the  monarchy." 


An  Historical  Warning  201 

I  submit  that  is  pretty  good  rhetoric  and 
excellent  diction.  Though  it  means  absolutely 
nothing  it  must  have  sounded  well  to  the  pro- 
letariat. The  people  idolized  Robespierre  for 
a  while  at  least,  as  they  always  idolize  an  orator 
who  has  great  command  of  indefinite  and  high- 
sounding  language.  Idolizing  an  idealist  they 
followed  him  and  were  led  to  the  extremes  of 
democracy.  The  whole  population  of  France 
was  transformed  into  an  organized  mob,  doing 
everything  that  a  mob  can  do  but,  in  the  main, 
preserving  the  forms  of  law. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII 

CAPITAL   AND    LABOR 

Among  the  dangers  threatening  the  republic  is 
the  warfare  which  admittedly  exists  between 
capital  and  labor,  the  manifest  tendency  of  which 
is  in  the  direction  of  bolshevism.  Some  citations 
are  made  showing  its  imminence. 

One  need  not  to  have  read  the  preceding 
pages  to  know  that  the  United  States  is  fast 
approaching  a  crisis.  Industrial  and  social  un- 
rest is  everywhere  apparent.  Capital  and  labor 
are  at  grips  in  many  places,  while  management, 
the  all-essential  factor,  seems  helpless  to  accom- 
plish reconciliation. 

When  given  free  rein,  capital  enforced  un- 
bearable terms.  This  resulted  in  legislation  for- 
bidding combinations  for  the  purpose  of  limiting 
output  or  advancing  prices  of  the  products  of 
labor.  Thus  far  labor  has  enjoyed  express  ex- 
emptions from  anti-trust  laws,  and  it  is  now 
making  unbearable  exactions.  I  would  like  to 
warn  labor  unions  that  they  are  liable  to  exceed 
the  limits  of  prudence.  Admittedly  Congress 
has  the  same  power  to  forbid  combinations  of 

202 


Capital  and  Labor  203 

labor  as  it  had  to  prohibit  combinations  of  capi- 
tal. Combinations  of  every  kind  are  beneficial 
so  long  as  their  purpose  is  legitimate. 

There  is  an  old  fable  of  a  man  who  had  an 
ox  that  he  worked  with  a  donkey.  One  day  the 
ox  refused  to  work  and  at  night  he  asked  the 
donkey  how  matters  had  progressed  without  him. 
"I  had  a  very  hard  day,  but  I  got  through  with 
it,"  said  the  donkey.  "Did  the  boss  say  any- 
thing about  me?"  asked  the  ox.  "Not  a  word," 
said  the  donkey.  The  next  night  the  ox  again 
inquired  and  received  the  same  reply:  "A  very 
hard  day,  but  completed."  "Did  the  boss  say 
anything  about  me?"  asked  the  ox.  "Xot  a 
word,"  said  the  donkey,  "but  coming  home  he 
stopped  in  and  talked  awhile  with  the  butcher." 
It  might  be  well  for  us  all  to  understand  that 
if  one  million  or  ten  million  bankers,  if  one  mil- 
lion or  ten  million  farmers,  or  if  one  million  or 
ten  million  organized  labor  men  should  ever  at- 
tempt to  rule  America  in  the  interest  of  any  one 
class,  and  should  assume  to  dictate  the  terms  on 
which  production  can  be  continued,  it  will  be 
only  a  question  of  time  when  one  hemisphere 
will  be  freed  from  organized  coercion.  But 
every  organization  of  labor,  every  combination 
of  capital,  and  every  association  of  farmers, 
might  be  dissolved  and  it  would  not  more  than 


204  Vanishing  Landmarks 

temporarily  relieve  the  situation.  It  is  a  con- 
dition that  confronts  us  and  no  amount  of 
theorizing  will  improve  it. 

Recently  an  official  of  the  Department  of 
Labor,  in  a  carefully  prepared  article,  made 
the  profound  declaration  that  warfare  between 
capital  and  labor  will  continue  until  justice  is 
assured.  Grant,  if  you  please,  that  a  court  of 
exact  justice  could  be  created,  with  a  judge 
wiser  than  Solomon  on  the  bench.  Its  decisions 
would  satisfy  neither  capital  nor  labor.  Arbi- 
tration boards  occasionally  seek  to  do  exact  jus- 
tice. They  usually  ignore  that  element  and  aim 
simply  to  effect  a  workable  compromise,  that 
will  temporarily  save  the  situation.  When  the 
terms  are  accepted  and  acquiesced  in,  both  sides 
profess  to  be  satisfied,  but  neither  side  is  satis- 
fied. Capital  thinks  it  is  entitled  to  everything 
because  without  capital  labor  would  starve,  and 
it  demands  that  labor  remove  its  shoes  from  off 
its  feet  in  its  presence.  Labor  thinks  it  is  en- 
titled to  everything  because  without  labor  capital 
would  languish.  It  goes  further  and  declares 
capital  to  be  a  myth.  It  says  that  all  so-called 
wealth  is  the  product  of  labor;  and  if  labor  had 
not  been  robbed  there  would  be  no  accumulated 
wealth — and  all  such  socialistic  and  anarchistic 
nonsense  which  emanates  largely  from  German- 


Capital  and  Labor  205 

bred  or  German-educated  teachers  of  political 
economy  and  sociology,  emphasized  by  a  large 
number  of  public  speakers  both  within  and  with- 
out the  church,  and  by  demagogues  generally. 
Hence  "labor  claims  the  full  proceeds  of  its 
service  less  enough  to  keep  the  tools  and  ma- 
chinery in  repair."  It  asks  that  capital  remove 
its  shoes.  Both  capital  and  labor  ignore  the 
most  important  factor  of  production — manage- 
ment. 

A  century  and  more  of  matchless  develop- 
ment, wherein  money  getting  had  been  the  chief 
aim  of  life,  especially  with  those  possessing  apti- 
tude and  enough  energy  to  pa}''  the  price  of 
achievement,  divided  the  people  into  classes. 
Those  possessing  aptitude  for  acquisition  won 
wealth,  those  with  aptitude  for  discovery  won 
distinction,  those  possessing  aptitude  for  states- 
manship, or  for  war,  won  fame.  JNIany  of  those 
who  won  wealth  became  arrogant,  overbearing, 
snobbish  and  some  of  them  despisedly  mean. 
Logically — for  everything  in  this  world  proceeds 
from  cause  to  effect — those  who  did  not  possess 
the  particular  type  of  aptitude  necessary  for 
acquisition,  together  with  those  who  were  un- 
willing to  pay  the  price,  denounced  riches  and 
the  possessors  thereof.  Some  of  these  became 
envious,  threatening,  even  rebellious,  and  not  a 


206  Vanishing  Landmarks 

few  despisedly  mean.  The  result  is  a  different 
America  than  the  one  our  fathers  knew,  and  it 
does  not  require  an  old  fogy  to  see  it.  A  man 
is  not  a  pessimist  simply  because  he  recognizes 
self-evident  facts.  Noah  came  far  nearer  being 
a  statesman  than  a  pessimist.  History  simply 
repeats  itself.  Macauley,  singing  of  the  "brave 
days  of  old,"  says: 

"Then  none  was  for  a  party, 
Then  all  were  for  the  State, 
Then  the  rich  man  helped  the  poor 
And  the  poor  man  loved  the  great." 

Now  the  poor  man  first  envies  the  rich  man 
and  then  hates  him,  the  rich  man  hates  the  richer, 
and  the  richer  snubs  the  would-be  rich.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  there  was  never  as  much  sym- 
pathy for  the  poor  as  now,  never  as  much  being 
done  for  him  as  at  present.  But  sympathy  and 
charity  are  not  what  he  needs,  as  I  hope  to  be 
able  to  show. 

IS   THE    SITUATION    HOPELESS? 

If  the  human  race  has  reached  a  condition 
where  further  progress  is  impossible,  and  noth- 
ing but  class  antagonisms  are  left,  it  would  seem 
that  a  second  occasion  has  arisen  when  Jehovah 


Capital  and  Labor  207 

might  "repent  that  he  had  made  man."  Patriot- 
ism demands  a  solution,  without  which  no  sane 
•man  dares  hope  for  anything  except  what  the 
sociahst  predicts  in  language  more  ominous  than 
any  direct  threat. 

Permit  a  few  excerpts  from  a  chapter,  "The 
Revolution,"  added  by  its  author  to  a  pamphlet 
containing  a  debate  on  socialism,  and  which  he 
used  extensively  in  his  campaign  for  Congress 
in  1916.  The  author  is  a  man  of  excellent  pres- 
ence and  seeming  patriotism.  I  believe  him  to 
be  as  sincere  in  his  belief  as  any  evangelist  of 
the  olden  times.  He  commends  the  vision  of 
Ignatius  Donneley  in  prophesying  the  approach- 
ing cataclysm :  "The  people  cannot  comprehend 
it.  They  look  around  for  their  defenders — the 
police,  the  soldier,  where  are  they?  Will  not 
this  dreadful  nightmare  pass  away.  No,  never! 
This  is  the  culmination — this  is  the  climax,  the 
century's  aloe  blooms  today."  He  adds:  "These 
are  the  grapes  of  wrath  which  God  has  stored 
up  for  the  day  of  His  vengeance;  and  now  He 
is  tramping  them  out  and  this  is  the  red  juice — 
look  you — that  flows  so  thick  and  fast  in  the 
very  gutters  .  .  .  Evil  has  but  one  child — 
DEATH.  For  years  you  have  nourished  and  nur- 
tured evil.  Do  you  complain  if  her  monstrous 
progeny  is  here,  with  sword  and  torch?     What 


208  Vanishing  Landmarks 

else  did  you  expect?  Did  you  think  she  would 
breed  angels?"  And  then  after  explaining  that 
he  does  not  speak  "these  bitter  words  in  the 
spirit  of  a  challenge,  but  with  the  kindliest,  deep- 
est feeling  of  love  for  all  humanity,  and  with 
the  most  fervent  and  patriotic  feelings  of  venera- 
tion for  my  country — the  grandest  country  in 
the  world,  but  now  being  systematically  robbed," 
he  warns  "the  masters  of  the  bread"  thus:  "I 
warn  them  that  if  they  want  'red  hell'  with  all 
the  accompanying  fireworks — with  all  the  at- 
tendant brutality,  and  crime,  and  suffering,  and 
misery,  and  degradation,  and  sorrow  and  death, 
with  the  destruction  of  their  cities  and  the  wip- 
ing out  of  their  so-called  civilization,  they  can 
have  it  just  when  they  most  desire.  It  is  up  to 
them.  The  revolutions  of  the  past  will  be  but 
kindergarten  affairs  compared  to  the  revolution 
now  pending  and  coming  when  some  one  strikes 
a  match  in  the  powder  house." 


CHAPTER  XXIX 

CAN    THE    CRISIS    BE    AVERTED? 

Our  troubles  have  all  resulted  from  false 
teachings  which  are  leading  us  farther  and 
farther  afield.  The  very  rich  will  spend  nothing 
to  correct  the  public  mind  and  legislation  seems 
powerless  to  afford  a  remedy. 

All  this  might  have  been  prevented  and  pos- 
sibly even  now  can  be  avoided.  It  has  been 
brought  upon  us  in  part  by  false  education  but 
largely  through  evolution  in  our  form  of  govern- 
ment, in  our  purpose  of  government,  and  in 
industrial  conditions.  It  could  have  been  pre- 
vented by  correct  education  both  inside  and  out- 
side the  schoolroom.  It  may  possibly  be  avoided 
by  a  speedy  return  to  fundamental  American- 
ism. But  whatever  happens,  no  citizen  can 
boast  of  patriotism  until  he  has  sought  a  rem- 
edy; and  no  one  is  a  patriot  who  will  not  sac- 
rifice everything  to  save  the  situation. 

In  this  connection  let  me  warn  you  not  to 
expect  any  considerable  portion  of  the  necessary 
work  to  be  done  by  the  very  rich.  They  have 
so  long  believed,  and  their  experience  has  jus- 

209 


210  Vanishing  Landmarks 

tified  the  conviction  that  money  will  buy  any- 
thing, that  many  of  them  seem  to  think  their 
wealth  will  enable  them  to  buy  liberty  of  a  mob. 
A  mob  is  always  venal  but  it  can  never  be  bribed 
by  what  it  has  the  power  to  take.  Did  the 
wealthy  of  France  escape?  They  were  the  first 
to  die.  Have  the  rich  of  Russia  been  spared? 
They  have  been  the  first  to  suffer.  Possibly  the 
rich  may  be  able  to  buy  their  choice  of  being 
mutilated  before  or  after  death.  The  history  of 
all  revolutions  of  the  kind  that  seems  impending 
justifies  the  prediction  that  the  more  money  a 
man  has  the  greater  certainty  of  his  torture  and 
ultimate  death.  Quite  recently  a  very  rich  man 
was  asked  to  contribute  to  a  campaign  of  edu- 
cation against  bolshevism.  He  wrote  a  patron- 
izing letter  acknowledging  the  importance  of  the 
work,  but  expressed  the  opinion  that  it  should 
be  financed,  not  by  the  rich,  but  by  men  worth 
thirty  or  forty  thousand  dollars.  "Accursed  be 
the  gold  that  gilds  the  narrow  forehead  of  the 
fool." 

LEGISLATION  OFFERS  NO  REMEDY 

It  is  recorded  that  the  children  of  Israel  once 
upon  a  time  got  into  serious  difficulty  through 
worshipping  a  golden  calf  while  Moses  was  on 
the    mountain    getting    the    Moral    Law.      If 


Can  the  Crisis  Be  Averted?  211 

American  civilization  is  idolatrous — and  it  seems 
not  to  be  free  from  that  sin — the  object  of  its 
worship  is  statute  law,  to  the  neglect  of  under- 
lying principles  which  make  most  laws  un- 
necessary. In  the  last  ten  years  over  sixty-five 
thousand  statutes  have  been  enacted  by  Congress 
and  the  state  legislatures  and  approved  by  ex- 
ecutives. Meanwhile  the  evil  we  are  now  con- 
sidering, in  common  with  most  others  recognized 
a  decade  ago,  has  in  the  main  increased.  Neither 
the  laws  of  nature,  nor  the  laws  of  economics, 
nor  the  laws  of  society,  can  be  reversed  by 
statute.  We  have  proceeded  upon  the  theory 
that  a  republic  can  accomplish  anything  by 
popular  edict,  but  the  tides  come  in  whether  pro- 
hibited by  sovereign  king  or  by  sovereign  people. 

A  DIAGNOSIS 

Before  a  disease  can  be  treated  with  any  hope 
of  success,  its  cause,  no  less  than  its  manifes- 
tations, must  be  studied.  American  industries 
and  internal  improvements  were  begun  with 
American  labor.  I  can  remember  when  girls 
in  northern  New  England  spent  their  winters 
in  the  factories  at  Lowell  and  Manchester  and 
returned  to  teach  school  during  the  summer. 
When  our  industries  outgrew  the  supply  of 
American  labor,  agents  were  sent  abroad  and 


212  Vanishing  Landmarks 

immigrants  were  brought  over  under  contract. 
When  Congress  forbade  the  admission  of  con- 
tract labor,  and  wages  still  advanced,  the  world 
heard  of  it  and  a  polyglot  mass  of  all  kindreds 
and  tribes  and  complexions  came  flocking  to  our 
shores,  because,  as  we  have  seen  elsewhere  in 
this  volume,  labor  was  better  rewarded  here  than 
elsewhere,  and  relatively  better  rewarded  than 
capital.  Naturally,  American-bred  boys  and 
girls  did  not  fancy  working  side  by  side  with 
foreigners  who  did  not  speak  the  English  lan- 
guage, who  had  not  imbibed  American  ideas 
and  were  strangers  to  American  standards  of 
living.  So  they  ceased  to  accept  work,  and  com- 
menced looking  for  situations. 

I  visited  a  mill  in  Passaic,  New  Jersey,  where 
the  rules  were  posted  in  five  languages,  and  a 
teacher  in  one  of  the  schools  told  me  there  were 
nineteen  languages  spoken  in  her  room.  In 
thousands  of  establishments,  laborers,  many  of 
whose  names  are  unpronounceable,  are  known 
by  numbers.  Think  of  an  American  citizen, 
outside  of  a  penitentiary,  being  identified  and 
known  by  number.  Will  any  wage  satisfy  that 
man?  What  wage  or  salary  will  you  accept 
and  be  known  to  your  boss  only  by  number, 
and  stand  in  line  and  accept  a  pay  envelope 
at  the  end  of  the  week  as  "437"?     An  increased 


Can  the  Crisis  Be  Averted?  213 

wage  may  temporarily  satisfy  the  intellect  of  a 
man  thus  environed  but  it  will  not  satisfy  his 
heart  hunger. 

There  are  only  two  demands  that  a  laborer 
knows  how  to  make :  He  can  ask  shorter  hours, 
and  he  can  demand  more  wages,  but  neither 
will  satisfy,  for  neither  is  the  thing  he  needs. 
Would  3^ou  like  to  know  what  it  is  for  which 
the  very  soul  of  every  man — laborer  no  less  than 
capitalist — cries  and  without  which  he  will  not 
be  appeased  ?  You  do  not  need  to  be  told.  You 
have  only  to  hark  back  to  the  days  of  your 
youth.  You  have  only  to  study  mental  phil- 
osophy, using  your  own  inner  consciousness  as 
a  text  book,  and  you  will  find  the  answer. 
What  the  American  laborer  demands,  what  the 
American  citizen,  regardless  of  his  surroundings, 
needs,  is  recognition.  He  wants  a  voice.  His 
very  being  demands  some  measure  of  respon- 
sibility''. He  needs  to  feel  that  in  some  way  he 
has  contributed  to  results  and  that  someone  be- 
sides himself  knows  it.  God  save  America  from 
a  generation  in  whom  these  divinely  implanted 
aspirations  have  been  stifled. 

Being  unable  to  formulate  these  longings,  the 
laborer  limits  his  demands  to  the  two  things 
which  the  walking  delegate  tells  him  are  the 
o^^ly  things  necessary — shorter  hours  and  more 


214  Vanishing  Landmarks 

pay.  When  he  gets  them  the  real  need  of  his 
being  remains  untouched  and  he  repeats  his  de- 
mand. When  his  employer  seeks  to  do  some- 
thing for  him,  instead  of  doing  something  to- 
gether with  him,  he  resents  both  his  charity  and 
his  sympathy,  and  spurns  his  advice. 

Men  who  are  required  to  deal  with  men  ought 
to  give  primary  study  to  human  nature,  and 
omit  the  study  of  angelic  nature  until  they  join 
the  angels.  Suppose  we  continue  this  analysis 
of  human  nature  for  therein  we  may  find  the 
seed  of  truth  that  shall,  if  nurtured,  fructify  in 
blessing  to  us  all. 

A  few  years  ago  the  Chamber  of  Commerce 
of  one  of  our  very  large  cities  gave  a  Lincoln 
Day  Banquet  at  which  the  speaker  of  the  House 
of  Representatives  of  Congress  was  the  guest  of 
honor.  Among  other  wise  philosophies  that  fell 
from  his  lips  was  this:  "I  do  not  know  your 
personal  genesis  but  I  will  guess  that  less  than 
fifty  years  ago  nine  out  of  ten  of  the  intelligent, 
virile  leaders  of  production,  who  own  and  repre- 
sent capital,  as  well  as  the  high  officials  of  your 
state,  and  of  the  nation,  who  sit  at  this  table, 
were  bright-faced  schoolboys  in  the  common 
schools,  'building  castles  in  Spain.'  If  this 
Chamber  shall  repeat  this  banquet  a  half  cen- 
tury hence,  you  can  find  your  successors  in  the 


Can  the  Crisis  Be  Averted?  215 

public  schools  of  today  'building  castles  in 
Spain.'  "  The  thought  I  gather  is  not  the  trite 
expression  that  "The  youth  of  today  is  the  adult 
of  tomorrow,"  nor  that  the  public  school  is  the 
nursery  of  greatness.  The  thought  I  get  is  that 
he  who  is  destined  to  achieve  prominence  in  any 
walk  of  life  is  the  j^outh  who  "builds  castles  in 
Spain,"  who  imagines,  who  hopes,  and  who  goes 
out  to  fight  for  the  fulfillment  of  his  dreams. 

What  is  the  probability  of  a  man  who  cannot 
speak  the  English  language,  and  who  receives 
nothing  more  tangible  than  a  pay  envelope  and 
its  contents,  handed  to  him  by  number,  sitting 
by  the  cot  of  his  son  and  inspiring  the  imagina- 
tion of  the  coming  American?  If  he  says  any- 
thing, is  he  not  likely  to  say — are  there  not  a 
million  homes  where  this  is  the  only  appropriate 
thing  that  can  be  said:  "INIy  boy,  I  am  sorry 
that  I  brought  you  into  the  world.  I  see  noth- 
ing in  life  for  you.  The  future  is  not  only 
dumb  but  awful  dark." 

The  kind  of  men  who  made  this  country  were 
told  a  different  story  at  their  trundle  beds.  They 
were  inspired  with  hope,  for  their  parents  were 
full  of  hope.  They  were  filled  with  expectation, 
for  they  knew  their  parents  were  expectant.  If 
we  revive  contented,  hopeful  Americanism  we 
must  inspire  "castle  building."    We  must  fill  the 


216  Fanifihing  Landmarks 

youth  with  hope  and  whet  his  imagination  to 
keenest  edge  until  he  will  intuitively  seek  litera- 
ture instead  of  twaddle  with  which  to  express 
his  aspiration. 

"I  stand  at  the  end  of  the  past,  where  the  future 
begins  I  stand, 

Emperors  lie  in  the  dust,  others  shall  rise  to 
command ; 

But  greater  than  rulers  unborn,  greater  than 
kings  who  have  reigned 

Am  I  that  have  hoj^e  in  my  heart  and  victories 
still  to  be  gained. 

Under  my  feet  the  world,  over  my  head  the 
sky. 

Here  at  the  center  of  things,  in  the  living  pres- 
ence am  I." 


CHAPTER  XXX 

INDUSTRIAL  REPUBLICS 

While  democracy  as  a  form  of  government  spells 
ruin,  democracy  in  society  spells  America  in  her 
best  estate.  The  possibility  of  industrial  republics 
is  suggested. 

While  talking  about  democracy  in  govern- 
ment we  seem  to  have  lost  our  conception  of 
democracy  in  society.  What  better  can  we 
expect  from  democracy  in  government  than 
France's  experience,  when  the  voice  of  the  peo- 
ple was  declared  to  be  the  voice  of  God?  But 
social  democracy  is  a  very  different  thing  from 
a  democratic  form  of  government,  and  has  well 
nigh  become  a  lost  blessing. 

When  the  socialist  talks  about  "Industrial 
Democracy"  he  means  a  democratic  form  of 
government,  with  all  industries  under  popular 
management.  That  is  one  extreme.  The  capi- 
talist demands  industrial  autocracy.  That  is  the 
other  extreme. 

In  a  previous  chapter  I  have  tried  to  show 
that  when  the  Fathers  formed  this  government, 

217 


218  Vanishing  Landmarks 

their  experiences,  as  well  as  their  knowledge  of 
history  led  them  to  fear  the  monarch.  The 
French  Revolution  was  about  to  burst  into 
what  its  promoters  promised  should  be  the 
purest  form  of  democracy  which  the  world  had 
ever  seen,  and  the  Fathers  were  justly  appre- 
hensive. Dreading  the  mass  quite  as  much  as 
they  feared  the  monarch,  they  chose  the  middle 
course.     They  chose  representative  government. 

I  wonder  if  there  be  a  middle  course  between 
industrial  autocracy  and  industrial  democracy. 
Is  it  possible  for  business  concerns  and  manu- 
facturing plants  to  create  within  their  organiza- 
tions industrial  republics  where  each  employee 
shall  have  some  actual  voice,  and  through  their 
representatives  sitting  in  deliberative  bodies, 
analogous  to  our  legislative  branch,  originate 
and  recommend  or  approve  reforms  and  im- 
provements subject,  of  course,  to  a  veto  by  a 
cabinet  ? 

Many  methods  of  profit  sharing  have  been 
tried  and  they  have  usually  worked  advantage- 
ously, but  admittedly  they  fall  far  short  of  the 
requirements.  So-called  cooperative  industrial 
concerns  have  been  created  with  some  measure 
of  success,  yet  the  real  problem  remains  un- 
touched and  as  complex  as  ever.  Labor  has 
never  established  a  cooperative  industry  worthy 


Industrial  Republics  219 

of  the  name,  except  as  Mallock  shows  in  "The 
Limits  of  Pure  Democracy,"^  when  the  actual 
operation  of  the  concern  has  been  placed  in  the 
hands  of  an  oligarch  whose  administration  is  as 
arbitrary  as  that  of  any  captain  of  industry. 
Only  in  that  way  has  it  been  possible  to  supply 
management,  the  most  essential  element,  as  we 
have  seen,  in  any  enterprise.  Labor  has  some- 
times found  the  capital,  but  capital  and  labor 
without  management  are  impotent.  A  goodly 
number  of  corporations  have  encouraged  and 
even  assisted  their  workmen  to  buy  stock,  which 
is  a  very  good  and  meritorious  policy.  It  may 
tend  to  alleviate  but  it  fails  to  cure. 

Mallock  clearly  shows  that  every  successful 
government  unites  the  elements  of  autocracy  and 
democracy.  Even  the  Imperial  German  Gov- 
ernment granted  certain  powers  to  the  people, 
while  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
clothes  the  president  with  powers  in  certain  re- 
spects rivaling  those  of  the  kaiser.  The  power 
of  veto  which  the  Constitution  vests  in  the  pres- 
ident exceeds  any  prerogative  possessed  by  the 
king  of  England.  On  the  other  hand  the  power 
to  make  war  rests  with  Congress,  while  in  Great 
Britain  it  requires  no  parliamentary  act.  Mal- 
lock enlarges  upon  this  thought  and  shows  that 

Published  by  E.  P.  Dutton  &  Company,  New  York. 


220  Vanishing  Landmarks 

socialist  organizations  and  labor  unions  are  suc- 
cessful only  because  they  are  arbitrarily  man- 
aged. Their  so-called  leaders  are,  in  fact,  oli- 
garchs. The  Russian  Revolution,  like  the  French 
Revolution,  was  avowedly  of  democratic  origin, 
but  in  fact  both  were  as  despotic  as  anything 
the  world  has  ever  seen.  The  strength  and 
grandeur  of  the  government  of  the  United 
States,  as  established  by  the  Constitution,  lies  in 
the  most  happy  combination  and  blending  of 
these  two  fundamental  principles,  popular  sov- 
ereignty and  centralized  strength. 

The  primary  difficulty  in  solving  the  so-called 
labor  question  lies,  I  think,  in  failing  to  recog- 
nize the  individuality — the  personality  of  the 
employee.  Some  tiny  share  of  profits  is  offered 
in  lieu  of  increased  wages  and  it  is  accepted  as 
a  mere  sop.  The  offer  of  stock  at  a  price  below 
the  market,  with  easy  payments,  is  looked  upon 
as  a  cheap  way  of  tying  the  hands  of  the  em- 
ployee, and  as  an  insurance  against  strikes.  I 
think  I  am  safe  in  saying  that  in  a  very  large 
majority  of  cases  where  any  of  these  methods 
have  been  tried  the  men  have  resented  them,  and 
in  some  instances  spurned  them.  Then  the  em- 
ployer concludes  that  labor  will  not  accept  de- 
cent treatment,  closes  his  ears,  his  mouth  and 
his  heart  and  proceeds  to  get  all  he  can  and  to 


Industrial  Republics  221 

give  as  little  as  can  possibly  be  forced  out  of 
him. 

If  the  basis  of  masculine  happiness  is,  as  I 
have  tried  to  show,  the  divinely  implanted  desire 
for  creatorship,  sovereignty  and  achievement, 
then  we  will  find  it  impossible  to  satisfy  the  sub- 
conscious longings  of  the  human  heart  with 
shorter  hours,  increased  wages,  or  with  some 
slight  share  of  profits  in  lieu  of  increased  wages. 
If  I  am  right  in  my  analysis  the  pathway  of 
access  to  the  real  man  in  the  overalls — and  a  real 
man  is  in  the  overalls  and  must  be  discovered — 
is  by  some  scheme  that  will  necessarily  recognize 
him  as  a  real,  thinking  and  potential  entity. 

Most  humans  prefer  to  be  called  "citizens" 
rather  than  "subjects."  Autocrats  speak  of  their 
subjects.  In  republics  there  are  no  subjects. 
All  are  fellow  citizens.  If  this  thought  can  be 
carried  into  the  industrial  world,  the  "citizens" 
therein  will  find  their  heart  hunger  appeased, 
their  hope  inspired  and  they  will  lift  their  heads 
into  the  clearer  atmosphere  of  industrial  oppor- 
tunity, and  possibility  of  ultimate  social  recog- 
nition. If  the  theory  of  evolution  has  any  foun- 
dation in  fact  the  species  began  to  lift  its  head 
with  the  first  impulse  of  hope,  and  its  whole 
body  stood  erect  when  the  consciousness  dawned 
of  being  human.     A  free,  brave  and  hopeful 


222  Vanishing!'  Landmarks 


H 


people  never  went  mad.  Desperation  and  fail- 
ure of  recognition  is  the  parent  of  revolution. 
Most  anyone  will  fight  when  called  "it." 

Pardon  a  little  personal  observation  which  has 
direct  bearing  upon  increased  efficiency  result- 
ing from  no  other  cause  than  recognition  and 
hope.  Forty  years  ago  immigrants  from  both 
Germany  and  Sweden  came  from  Castle  Garden 
to  my  town  every  few  days.  They  had  been 
born  "subjects"  and  they  toiled  after  their  arrival 
as  they  had  toiled  before  as  "'subjects."  They 
moved  with  the  air  of  "subjects."  In  my  imag- 
ination I  can  see  those  German  families  coming 
up  the  middle  of  the  street  in  wooden  shoes, 
single  file,  the  man  ahead  empty  handed  except 
his  long  pipe,  the  wife  close  behind  with  a  baby 
in  her  arm,  and  a  big  bundle  on  her  head,  and 
the  children  in  regular  succession  according  to 
age,  which  seldom  varied  more  than  two  years. 
There  must  have  been  some  hope  in  the  man's 
heart  or  he  would  not  have  left  his  native  coun- 
try. But  neither  his  gait  nor  his  other  move- 
ments betrayed  it.  These  immigrants  immedi- 
ately sought  and  secured  employment,  but  they 
were  not  worth  much  the  first  month  or  so.  It 
did  not  take  long,  however,  until  it  would  dawn 
upon  them  that  opportunity  had  actually 
knocked  at  their  door.     A  few  Sunday  after- 


Industrial  Republics  223 

noons  on  the  porch  of  friends  who  had  left  the 
Fatherland  as  poor  as  they,  and  who  were  now 
comfortably  situated,  plus  a  wage  scale  of  which 
hitherto  they  had  only  been  told,  transformed 
those  big  fellows.  I  am  not  exaggerating  when 
I  say  they  would  do  without  urging  from  fifty 
to  one  hundred  percent  more  work  six  months, 
and  often  six  weeks,  after  their  arrival  than 
when  they  came.  They  had  begun  "building 
castles  in  Spain."  They  were  dreaming  dreams 
and  the  central  figure  in  every  vision  was  a  home 
of  their  own,  and  personal  recognition.  Instead 
of  being  subjects  they  had  determined  to  be- 
come citizens. 

Can  this  transformation  still  be  wrought?  If 
it  can  all  danger  is  past.  Of  one  thing  I  am 
certain.     It  cannot  be  done  by  legislation. 


CONCLUSION 

I  came  to  man's  estate  thoroughly  beheving 
that  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  is 
the  greatest  chart  of  liberty  ever  penned  by  man; 
and  nothing  that  I  have  seen,  nothing  that  I 
have  heard,  and  nothing  that  has  transpired  in 
all  my  mature  life  has  shaken  my  faith. 

I  think  I  must  have  been  born  an  optimist. 
From  earliest  recollection  I  have  liked  the 
rooster  that  crows  in  the  morning  better  than 
the  owl  that  hcots  in  the  nighttime.  And  what 
is  best  of  all,  the  surroundings  of  my  childhood 
and  youth  were  exceedingly  hopeful.  I  have 
seen  few  hours  of  discouragement  and  none  of 
despondency.  Despising  the  pessimist,  I  have 
resolved,  and  am  resolved,  that  nothing  shall 
dim  my  hope  or  weaken  my  confidence  either  in 
my  country  or  in  the  American  people,  and  yet 
in  spite  of  myself  I  sometimes  feel  a  very  un- 
welcome impulse. 

I  observe  the  teachings  of  Jefferson  forsaken 
and  instead  of  the  minimum  of  government 
and  the  maximum  of  liberty,  more  and  more 

224 


Conclusion  225 

of  government  and  less  and  less  of  liberty.  I 
see  ignored  the  warnings  of  Washington  against 
weakening  the  energy  of  our  governmental  sys- 
tem by  making  changes  in  the  Constitution.  I 
mark  the  trend  away  from  representative  gov- 
ernment towards  direct  government,  a  policy 
that  has  wrought  ruin  whenever  and  wherever  it 
has  been  tried.  I  note  the  growing  disrespect 
for  authority  in  the  home,  in  the  school  and  on 
the  street,  coupled  with  certain  slurs  at  the  forms 
of  law,  as  well  as  for  judgments  and  decrees 
rendered  in  harmony  therewith,  emphasized  by 
bald  and  naked  threats  to  undermine  and,  if 
possible,  overthrow  our  entire  judicial  system. 
I  overhear  the  subtle  suggestion  to  our  youth 
that  they  need  give  no  thought  for  the  morrow, 
for  the  government  will  soon  insure  employ- 
ment; that  it  is  folly  to  make  themselves  effi- 
cient, for  the  government  will  sooner  or  later 
guarantee  wages  regardless  of  merit;  that  they 
need  not  practice  thrift,  for  the  government  will 
ultimately  pension  their  old  age  regardless  of 
profligate  habits  or  vicious  living.  I  discover  a 
growing  recognition  of  capitalistic,  industrial 
and  even  servant  classes,  with  attempts  at  class 
legislation,  all  subversive  of  republican  ideas, 
republican  traditions  and  republican  institutions. 
When  I  realize  that  all  this  is  as  yet  only  a 


226  Vanisldns^  Landmarks 


>5 


verdant  growth  from  socialistic,  not  to  say  anar- 
chistic seed  sown  broadcast  with  scarcely  a  pro- 
test, and  knowing  that  a  harvest  must  yet  be 
garnered,  I  am  at  times  apprehensive. 

But  I  am  reminded  that  this  is  the  people's 
government.  If  they  want  it  this  way  it  is 
their  business  and  not  mine.  If  they  make  a 
mistake  they  are  abundantly  able  to  respond  in 
consequences.  All  of  which  is  true,  but  the  fact 
that  it  is  true,  and  awfully  true,  only  emphasizes 
the  importance  of  alert  men  in  the  watch  towers. 

Recognizing  the  existence  of  the  greatest 
crisis  of  all  time,  a  crisis  wherein  all  that  we  call 
Christian  civilization  is  imperiled,  and  being  un- 
able to  hold  my  peace  I  have  produced  what  I 
hope  shall  be  considered  an  argument.  I  have 
tried  to  prove  scientifically  that  the  fathers  were 
wise  beyond  their  generation.  Nothing  is  scien- 
tific that  will  not  stand  the  test  of  application. 
I  consider  the  unschooled  George  Stevenson  a 
scientist  of  the  first  order.  He  thought  out,  and 
worked  out,  a  safety  lamp  for  the  protection  of 
coal  miners,  who  during  every  hour  of  their  toil 
stood  in  imminent  danger  of  explosions.  Then 
to  prove  that  he  was  scientifically  correct  he  had 
himself  lowered  into  the  mine  in  the  nighttime, 
and,  standing  there  alone,  thrust  his  lighted 
lamp  into  the  escaping  gas.     The  achievements 


Conclusion  227 

of  the  past  afford  proof  positive  that  our  form 
of  government,  our  poHcy  and  our  purpose  of 
government  were  scientifically  correct.  It  can- 
not be  exploded  or  overthrown.  Its  only  danger 
is  from  those  of  its  own  household,  the  children 
of  its  own  institutions,  who  may  undermine  it. 

Even  the  most  casual  reader  must  have  dis- 
covered that  in  a  very  marked  degree  we  have 
departed  from  the  teachings  of  the  Fathers. 
This  we  have  done  first  in  our  form  of  govern- 
ment, and  secondly  in  our  purpose  of  govern- 
ment, both  of  which  tend  strongly  to  bolshevism, 
sometimes  called  socialism,  and  sometimes  called 
"pure  democracy."  It  might  as  well  be  called 
Rousseauism.  The  name  is  immaterial.  The 
thing  itself  is  the  same  old  snake  that  first 
charms,  then  strangles,  covers  its  victim  with 
ooze  and  swallows  at  leisure. 

There  is  little  in  the  book  except  what  the 
writer  considers  has  direct  bearing  upon  one  or 
the  other  of  two  major  proposition.  First: 
Representative  government  was  the  correct 
principle  when  established,  and  therefore  is  cor- 
rect now  and  will  be  correct  to  the  end  of  time. 
Second :  The  government  was  originally  correct 
in  granting  liberty  of  action  to  the  citizens  and 
in  limiting  its  own  activities  to  strictly  govern- 
mental functions.     Third:    Each  and  every  de- 


228  Vanishing  Landmarks 

jDarture  from  correct  principles  or  wise  policies 
has  led  by  one  pathway  or  another  in  the  direc- 
tion of  bolshevism. 

No  people  will  ever  outgrow  correct  prin- 
ciples of  government  any  more  than  they  will 
correct  principles  of  agriculture.  The  fact  that 
times  have  changed,  that  inventions  have  revo- 
lutionized industry  and  that  improved  methods 
of  transportation  have  annihilated  space,  do  not 
in  the  slightest  degree  make  erroneous  a  correct 
principle  of  government  any  more  than  they 
render  false  a  principle  of  nature.  If  the  law 
of  gravitation  were  a  provision  of  the  Federal 
Constitution,  there  were  many  in  the  United 
States  who  would  have  sought  to  amend  it  when 
the  "Titanic"  went  down.  They  would  have 
argued  that  when  the  principle  was  promulgated 
by  the  Great  Law  Giver,  there  were  neither  ice- 
bergs nor  steamships. 

The  argument  that  the  people  are  wiser  now 
than  they  were  is  false.  The  Constitutional 
Convention  contained  a  larger  proportion  of 
college  graduates  than  any  convention  that  has 
since  assembled  anywhere,  and  some  of  the 
wisest,  and  safest  and  most  experienced  were 
not  college  men.  The  people  who  came  to 
America  prior  to  1787  came  for  motives  as 
lofty  as  have  actuated  those   of  recent  years, 


Conclusion  229 

and  in  character,  breadth  of  purpose  and  intel- 
hgence  they  comiDare  favorably  with  immigrants 
of  today.  In  addition,  they  had  many  advan- 
tages which  we  do  not  possess.  They  had  time 
to  think,  the  prime  essential  of  greatness.  They 
had  neither  the  inclination  nor  the  opportunity 
to  read  news  items  from  all  over  the  globe  in 
three  or  four  editions  of  a  metropolitan  news- 
paper, which  professedly  prints  only  news,  but 
prints  it  several  times  each  day.  ^leditation  is 
necessary  for  a  statesman  whether  he  be  required 
to  discharge  his  responsibility  in  the  halls  of 
legislation  or  permitted  to  do  so  at  the  polls. 

In  defending  our  form  of  government,  I  have 
submitted  a  brief  argument  for  an  independent 
judiciary.  This  should  be  unnecessary  in  any 
country  enjoying  and  professing  adherence  to 
Anglican  liberty.  In  justification  I  plead  the 
growing  disrespect  for,  and  the  multiplied  at- 
tacks upon,  our  whole  judicial  system. 

I  have  also  sought  to  show  by  the  record,  as 
well  as  by  some  reference  and  analysis  of  human 
aspirations  and  emotions,  that  the  governmental 
policy  pursued  for  many  years  was  correct,  and 
therefore  is  and  will  be  correct  forever.  If  I 
have  failed  to  make  it  clear  that  for  more  than 
one  hundred  years  the  government  fostered 
every  industry  and  fathered  none,  I  have  made 


230  Vanishing  Landmarks 

poor  use  of  the  material  at  hand.  I  have  sought 
to  show  that  the  government  merely  safeguarded 
the  liberties  of  the  people,  while  her  citizens  pur- 
sued their  happiness  and  won  it  in  achievement, 
which,  in  regular  sequence,  made  the  nation 
great.  If  the  argument  has  any  force,  it  should 
lead  irresistibly  to  the  conclusion  that  if  America 
expects  to  make  further  advancement,  the  only 
sure  way  is  to  return  to  these  fundamental 
principles. 

I  have  referred  to  and  briefly  discussed  bol- 
shevist  or  socialist  doctrines,  including  confisca- 
tion of  property,  only  because  they  are  all  in- 
volved in  the  departure  from  the  policy  of  the 
fathers.  When  the  Republic  changed  its  course 
little  by  little  away  from  granting  liberty  and 
affording  opportunity  and  began  to  restrict  and 
to  absorb  what  the  citizen  had  formerly  enjoyed, 
the  way  was  opened  for  all  the  elements  of 
revolution.  To  understand  the  gravity  of  the 
situation  one  must  study  the  logical  effect,  and 
to  comprehend  the  effect  some  reference  to  sim- 
ilar movements  in  France  and  Russia  is  neces- 
sary. 

I  have  sought  to  strengthen  the  argument 
against  governmental  interference  in  purely 
secular  affairs  by  showing  the  unavoidable  handi- 
cap the  government  is  under  when  it  enters  the 


Conclusion  231 

field  of  business.  This  has  occasioned  some  an- 
alysis of  the  Civil  Service  system,  with  illus- 
trations of  its  actual  operations. 

That  my  country  will  return  to  its  original 
form  and  purpose,   I  am  more  than  hopeful; 
yea,  I  am  confident.     It  must  be  that  the  United 
States  will  revert  to  representative  government 
in  its  original  simplicity.     It  cannot  be  other- 
wise than  that  a  wise  citizenship  will  again  select 
their  representatives  because  of  aptitude  and  will 
retain  them  in  positions  of  responsibility  until 
they  shall  have  acquired  efficiency  through  expe- 
rience, gauging  their  worth,  the  while,  by  results 
rather  than  by  subservient  obedience.    An  ambi- 
tious people,  resourceful  and  hopeful,  virile  and 
expectant  will  certainly  take  their  government 
out  of  business,  and  confine  its  operations  to  the 
legitimate   functions   of   government.     All   the 
traditions  of  the  past,  all  the  teachings  of  the 
Fathers,  all  the  warnings  of  history  are  against 
paternalism.    No  government  ever  made  or  will 
make   a  people   great  except   as   it   guarantees 
liberty   whereby   the   people   shall   make   them- 
selves great.    No  people  ever  have  made  or  will 
make  themselves  great  by  relying  upon  their 
government  to  do  for  them  the  things  which  the 
Almighty    intended — yea    decreed — that     they 
should  do  for  themselves. 


APPENDIX  A 

UNSKILLED  LABORERS 

Treasury  Department,  Nov.  11,  1903. 
To  Civil  Service  Commission: 

Your  letter  of  November  4tli  relative  to  the 
adoption  of  rules  governing  the  employment  of 
laborers  in  the  Federal  Service  at  Boston  is  at 
hand.  I  will  have  occasion  to  take  the  matter  up 
with  the  President,  and  if  he  desires  the  rules 
signed  I  shall  be  glad  to  comply.  Otherwise  I 
shall  decline. 

My  principal  objection  is  the  fact  that  para- 
graph 6,  "Definition  of  Classified  Work,"  con- 
tained in  the  regulations  governing  the  employ- 
ment of  classified  laborers,  adopted  July  23, 
1903,  has  proved  very  impracticable.  In  fact 
that  Department  not  only  violates  these  rules 
every  day,  but  ignores  them  and  is  compelled  to 
do  so.  I  am  also  advised  that  the  Civil  Service 
Commission  not  only  violates  them,  but  ignores 
them.  I  respect  the  Commission  for  doing  this, 
and  my  respect  would  not  be  diminished  if  it 
would  repeal  such  regulations  as  have  to  be  ig- 

232 


Appendix  A  233 

nored  by  the  very  men  who  promulgate  them. 
The  fact  that  they  are  thus  ignored  by  the  Civil 
Service  Commission  is  supported  by  the  clear 
and  repeated  statement  of  a  member  of  the 
Commission,  made  in  my  office. 

And  tliis  is  not  all.  It  is  well  nigh  impossible 
to  secure  from  the  skilled  laborer  register  of  the 
Commission  persons  who  are  willing  to  perform 
the  menial  service  which  is  required  of  unskilled 
laborers.  The  rule  referred  to  forbids  our  tak- 
ing unskilled  laborers  from  our  payroll  to  per- 
form this  menial  service,  and  permit  them  inci- 
dentally to  perform  service  that  requires  a 
knowledge  of  reading  and  writing.  We  are  now 
in  the  midst  of  a  prolonged  correspondence  with 
the  Civil  Service  Commission  over  a  case  arising 
at  San  Francisco  where  the  offense  was  that  an 
unskilled  laborer,  assigned  to  handle  merchan- 
dise, was  permitted  to  go  to  a  pile  of  bales  and 
boxes  on  the  docks  and  select  a  package  that  was 
needed  for  examination,  and  exercised  his  ability 
to  read  the  number  on  the  package.  Had  some 
skilled  laborer  gone  with  the  unskilled  laborer, 
to  read  the  number,  and  had  then  informed  the 
unskilled  laborer  that  that  package  bore  the 
desired  number,  all  would  have  been  well.  Un- 
der the  rules  for  which  you  are  contending  it 
requires  two  men  to  get  a  package,  when  either 


234  Vanishing  Landmarks 

one  can  get  it  alone,  and  then  it  takes  a  man  and 
a  stenographer  in  this  office  to  conduct  the  cor- 
respondence that  grows  out  of  the  offense  of 
allowing  either  one  to  do  it  unaided  by  the  other. 
If  the  President  wants  this  condition  inaugu- 
rated at  Boston  and  other  ports,  as  well  as  at 
San  Francisco,  I  shall  be  very  glad  to  see  that 
it  is  done. 

I  will  be  very  glad  to  co-operate  with  the  Civil 
Service  Commission  to  improve  the  service  in 
this  Department,  not  only  in  Boston  but  in  every 
port.  I  am  a  firm  believer  in  Civil  Service,  and, 
I  may  add,  in  the  machinery  of  Civil  Service 
but  I  am  more  interested  in  improving  the  prod- 
uct than  in  perfecting  the  machine.  So  far  as 
I  am  concerned  I  will  not  voluntarily  sign  and 
promulgate  rules  for  the  mere  sake  of  signing 
and  promulgating  rules.  I  will  co-operate  to 
the  fullest  extent  in  anything  that  will  improve 
the  service.  Very  respectfully, 

Leslie  M.  Shaw. 

eequieements  foe  male  unskilled  laborers 

Treasury  Department,  Jan.  26,  1904. 
To  the  Civil  Service  Commission: 

Your  letter  of  the  14th  inst,  submitting  for 
approval  a  statement  of  physical  requirements 
for  male  unskilled  laborers  is  received. 


Appendix  A  235 

I  am  unalterably  opposed  to  a  graduated  scale 
of  physical  ability.  If  a  man  of  medium  weight, 
130  lbs.,  and  minimum  height,  5  ft.  3  in.,  and 
with  strength  to  carry  a  minimum  weight,  150 
lbs.,  is  to  be  marked  70,  as  you  propose,  then  a 
man  weighing  200  lbs.,  6  ft.  tall,  and  able  to 
carry  200  lbs.,  would  I  supposed  be  marked  80; 
and  a  man  weighing  300  lbs.,  6  ft.  5  in.  in  height, 
and  able  to  carry  500  lbs.,  should  be  marked  100. 
No  one  would  have  such  a  man  around.  He 
would  be  physically  incompetent.  Either  a  man 
is  physically  competent  or  he  is  not.  Most  of 
the  defects  referred  to  as  sufficient  to  justify 
rejection  are  all  right.  I  have  no  objection  to  a 
list  of  competents  being  made  and  from  that 
list  we  will  select.  But  I  would  rather  base  my 
judgment  upon  the  appearance  of  an  applicant 
who  would  come  into  the  office  and  say  "good 
morning"  and  retire  than  all  the  physical  exami- 
nations that  the  Civil  Service  Commission  can 
give. 

I  do  not  care  to  prolong  the  correspondence; 
I  simply  will  not  consent  to  accept  unskilled 
laborers  on  a  graduated  scale  of  physical  ability. 
I  do  not  care  whether  a  man  can  lift  150  lbs.  or 
400  lbs.  when  there  be  only  10  lbs.  to  lift. 

Very  respectfully, 
Leslie  M.  Shaw. 


APPENDIX  B 

TEA  EXAMINER 

Treasury  Department,  Dec.  15,  1904. 

To  the  Civil  Service  Commission: 

I  am  in  receipt  of  your  communication  of 
November  21st  certifying  three  names  from 
which  to  select  a  Tea  Examiner. 

I  hereby  file  objection  to  each  and  all  of  the 
persons  so  certified  because  of  mental  unfitness 
for  the  position  for  which  they  apply. 

There  is  no  tariff  duty  on  tea  and  the  sole 
purpose  of  examination  of  tea  is  to  protect  the 
American  people  from  cheap  and  deleterious 
preparations.  A  competent  tea  examiner  must 
be  able  to  pour  hot  Avater  on  a  sample  of  tea 
and  by  tasting,  tell  within  five  cents  per  pound 
of  what  it  is  worth,  and  to  determine  accurately 
whether  the  sample  is  composed  of  tea  or  of 
some  imitation  or  preparation  thereof,  and 
whether  it  has  been  adulterated.  Whether  he 
can  speak  the  English  language  or  sign  his  name 
is  immaterial.  If  he  knows  tea,  and  is  honest 
and  incorruptible,  the  American  peoi^le  will  get 
protection.    These  men  know  no  more  about  tea 

236 


Appendix  B  237 

than  you  or  I  and  they  are  as  unfit  for  the  place 
as  either  of  us. 

In  proof  of  the  foregoing,  one  of  the  names 
certified  is  that  of  a  clerk  in  the  Customs  Service 
and  is  known  to  this  Department  to  be  wholly 
unfit  for  Tea  Examiner.  He  is  a  clerk  and 
not  a  Tea  Expert. 

Another  is  a  bookkeeper,  and  has  been  con- 
tinuously thus  employed  since  1886,  and  knows 
nothing  about  tea  and  does  not  pretend  to. 

The  third  is  now  an  opener  and  packer  in  the 
Customs  Service  and  admits  that  all  he  knows 
about  tea  is  the  fact  that  he  once  sold  coffee. 
The  serious  side  of  this  matter  is  the  absolute 
and  literal  truth  of  the  foregoing. 

Some  conception  of  the  importance  of  the 
position  may  be  gained  from  the  fact  that  over 
three  hundred  packages  of  alleged  tea  have  been 
excluded  in  the  last  ninety  days  at  that  port 
alone.  Very  respectfully, 

Leslie  M.  Shaw. 

The  balance  of  the  correspondence  is  unim- 
portant in  view  of  the  Commissioner's  letter  of 
Dec.  9,  1905,  practically  one  year  thereafter, 
quoted  page  173,  and  in  which  the  Commission 
states  that  after  two  examinations,  on  its  recom- 
mendation the  place  was  excepted  by  the  Presl- 
ey en  t  and  filled  independent  of  Civil  Service. 


APPENDIX  C 

TOBACCO  EXAMINER 

Treasury  Department,  December  15,  1904. 
To  the  Civil  Service  Commission: 

I  am  in  receipt  of  your  letter  of  the  12th  inst. 
certifying  three  names  eligible  for  selection  as 

Tobacco  Examiner  at  the  port  of . 

I  hereby  file  objections  to  each  and  all  because 
of  mental  unfitness  for  the  position  for  which 
they  apply. 

The  Tariff  Duty  on  unmanufactured  tobacco 
is  in  part  as  follows : 

Per  lb. 

Wrapped  Tobacco,  unstemmed $1.8.5 

Wrapped  Tobacco,  stemmed 2.50 

Filler  Tobacco,  unstemmed 35 

Filler  Tobacco,  stemmed    50 

Filler  Tobacco,  if  packed  or  mixed 
with  more  than  15  per  cent  of  wrap- 
per tobacco,  unstemmed 1.85 

If  stemmed 2.50 

Tobacco,  the  product  of  two  or  more 
countries     or     dependencies     when 

238 


Appendix  C  239 

mixed,  unstemmed 1.85 

If  stemmed 2.50 

This  is  sufficient  to  show  the  importance  of 
the  position  and  the  necessity  of  having  an 
expert  tobacco  man  as  examiner.  No  one  of 
these  certified  is  competent.  The  first  is  a  clerk 
and  stenographer.  He  has  been  a  letter  carrier 
and  is  now  a  clerk  in  the  Customs  House  at 
$1,200.00  per  annum.  He  is  a  professional  Civil 
Service  Examination  taker,  and  admits  having 
"crammed"  as  he  terms  it  for  this  examination. 
He  has  never  had  anything  to  do  with  the 
tobacco  business  except  that  he  was  once  stenog- 
rapher to  a  tobacco  merchant. 

The  second  is  a  storekeeper  and  clerk  in  the 
Customs  Service.  He  has  had  no  experience 
whatever  in  tobacco  except  to  have  seen  bales  of 
tobacco  while  storekeeper  for  the  government. 

The  third  has  been  a  cigar  maker  but  does 
not  pretend  to  know  anything  about  the  tobacco 
business  except  a  httle  experience  in  making 
cigars  from  tobacco  purchased  by  others,  and 
that  in  a  very  small  way.  He  is  in  my  judg- 
ment wholly  unprepared  to  protect  the  revenues 
of  the  government  against  the  frauds  contin- 
ually attempted  by  unscrupulous  importers,  who 
pursue  the  line  of  least  resistance,  and  bring 
their  tobacco  to  the  port  where  deception  is  least 


240  Vanishing  Landmarks 

likely  to  be  detected.  He  is  equally  unprepared 
to  protect  the  honest  importer  from  competition 
with  the  unscrupulous. 

In  kindness  but  in  honesty  let  me  say  that  the 
man  who  conducted  the  examinations  has  no  con- 
ception whatever  of  the  qualifications  needed  in 
a  tobacco  examiner.  .  .  .  These  applicants 
may  be  nice  men,  and  they  may  wear  good 
clothes,  and  they  may  speak  good  English,  and 
may  be  men  of  integrity,  but  no  one  of  them  is 
fit  to  hold  the  very  important  position  to  which 
he  aspires,  and  for  the  simple  reason  that  he 
knows  nothing  at  all  about  the  only  thing  he 
needs  to  know  anything  about,  to- wit :  Tobacco  I 
Very  respectfully, 

Leslie  M.  Shaw. 

The  balance  of  the  correspondence  is  unim- 
portant in  view  of  the  Commission's  statement 
in  its  letter  of  Dec.  9,  1905,  quoted  page  173, 
that  after  three  examinations  the  President  on 
request  had  excepted  one  tobacco  examiner  and 
the  place  had  been  filled  independent  of  exami- 
nations. 


APPENDIX  D 

Correspondence  between  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  and  the  Civil  Service  Commission  in 
re  Trial  Lawyers. 

Treasury  Department,  Sept.  20,  1905. 
To  the  Civil  Service  Commission: 
Gentlemen : 

I  wish  you  would  hold  an  examination   for 
special  agents  at  the  earliest  possible  moment. 

As  I  explained  to  your  Mr.  the  other 

day,  the  Department  needs  some  special  agents 
with  legal  training.  Not  all  special  agents  need 
legal  training,  but  there  are  many  times  when 
cases  have  to  be  prepared  for  presentation  to 
the  Board  of  General  Appraisers,  or  to  the 
Court,  where  legal  experience  is  almost  essen- 
tial. I  will  give  you  an  illustration:  Not  long 
ago  I  needed  to  send  a  man  to  Europe  to  inves- 
tigate alleged  undervaluations  in  crockery  and 
chinaware.  I  had  the  matter  investigated  by 
three  special  agents  and  special  employees  with 
no  satisfactory  results.  They  did  not  know  what 
was  essential,  and  did  not  seem  to  know  evidence 
when  they  saw  it.     I  then  appointed  an  expe- 

241 


242  Vanishing  Landmarks 

rienced  lawyer  as  special  employee  and  sent  him 
over.  The  evidence  he  collected  ought  to  secure 
a  fifty  percent  advance  on  these  goods. 

I  want  to  urge  that  in  this  instance  you  pre- 
pare the  questions  so  as  to  exclude  everyone  who 
is  not  an  experienced  lawyer.  I  also  desire  to 
see  the  questions  before  the  examination  is  held. 
I  want  to  cooperate  wdth  the  Commission,  and  I 
urge  the  Commission  to  cooperate  with  me  in 
getting  material  absolutely  necessary  to  good 
administration. 

Very  truly  yours, 
Leslie  M.  Shaw, 

Secretary  of  the  Treasury. 

SECOND  LETTER 

Treasury  Department,  October  14,  1905. 
To  the  Civil  Service  Commission: 
Gentlemen : 

How  are  you  progressing  preparatory  to  the 
examination  for  special  agents?  I  am  very 
anxious  that  this  shall  be  done  at  the  earliest 
possible  moment.  I  have  a  well-defined  policy 
that  I  would  like  to  put  in  operation  before  I 
retire. 

Very  truly  yours, 

Leslie  M.  Shaw. 


Appendix  D  243 

FIRST    LETTER    FROM    THE    COMMISSION 

December  2,  1905. 
The  Honorable 

The  Secretary  of  the  Treasury: 
Sir: 

Referring  to  the  examination  for  special 
treasury  agents  which  you  desire  this  Commis- 
sion to  hold  and  with  respect  to  which  you 
make  oral  inquiry  today,  the  Commission  has 
the  honor  to  state  that  the  questions  on  govern- 
ment, law,  and  customs  matters  prepared  by 
your  Department  have  been  given  careful  con- 
sideration. It  is  the  opinion  of  the  Commission 
that  the  questions  are  of  such  a  character  that 
they  might  be  answered  by  a  person  without 
testing  his  qualifications  for  the  position  of  Spe- 
cial Treasury  Agents,  and  that,  on  the  other 
hand,  failure  to  answer  the  questions  would  not 
indicate  lack  of  qualification  for  such  position. 

The  Commission  is  sincerely  desirous  of  co- 
operating with  your  Department  in  securing 
competent  persons  for  the  service,  but  it  does 
not  believe  that  an  examination  along  the  lines 
indicated  in  the  material  submitted  by  your  De- 
partment would  have  the  desired  effect. 

The  Commission  very  seriously  doubts  whether 
the  position  of  Special  Agent  can  be  filled  as 


244  Vanishing  Landmarks 

satisfactorily  by  open  competitive  examinations 
as  by  transfer  or  promotion  of  trained  and  ex- 
perienced employees  in  the  service  who  are  fami- 
liar with  the  workings  of  your  Department  and 
especially  with  customs  matters. 

Very  respectfully, 


Commissioner. 


REPLY   TO   FOREGOING 


Treasury  Department,  December  5,  1905. 
To  the  Civil  Service  Commission: 

I  am  in  receipt  of  your  letter  of  the  2nd  rela- 
tive to  an  examination  for  Special  Agents  to 
the  Treasury  Department. 

I  know  you  will  pardon  me  if  I  insist  that  I 
know  better  the  necessary  qualifications  of  Spe- 
cial Agents  than  any  person  who  knows  nothing 
about  it  whatever.  If  there  were  experienced 
employees  in  the  service  who  could  be  trans- 
ferred I  certainly  should  do  so  rather  than  to 
await  an  examination.  You  will  remember  a 
personal  interview  I  had  with  you  about  this 
some  months  ago,  and  several  requests,  some  of 
them  personal  and  some  of  them  in  writing  fol- 
lowed by  the  preparation  of  the  questions  in  this 
Department,  still  followed  by  oral  inquiry  to 
which  you   courteously  refer.     I   will  explain 


Appendix  D  245 

again  that  I  need  some  lawyers  in  the  Special 
Agent  Force.  The  government  loses  millions 
every  year  (and  I  speak  within  bounds)  for 
want  of  suitable  preparation  of  cases  for  pre- 
sentation to  the  Board  of  General  Appraisers. 
I  want  men  who  know  evidence  when  they  see 
it  and  who  know  how  to  present  a  case.  I  do 
not  want  a  physician  or  a  preacher,  but  I  do 
want  and  must  have  lawyers.  I  care  very  little 
whether  they  know  anything  about  Customs 
matters  or  not — they  can  learn  that  but  they 
may  know  everything  about  Customs  matters 
and  cannot  become  lawyers.  I  have  clerks  in 
the  Department  who  have  graduated  in  law  but 
that  does  not  make  a  lawyer  of  a  man.  I  know 
what  the  Department  needs,  and  I  want  that 
need  supplied.  Please  advise  whether  you  will 
hold  the  required  examinations  or  whether  I  will 
have  to  fill  the  vacancies  with  incompetent  clerks, 
or  by  executive  order.  If  you  will  join  in  a 
request  that  suitable  men  be  put  into  this  im- 
portant work  by  executive  order  I  will  let  tlie 
Civil  Service  Commission  make  the  nominations 
from  a  list  which  I  will  furnish,  or  I  will  ask 
them  to  furnish  the  list  and  I  will  make  the 
nominations.  I  am  not  trying  to  escape  the 
Civil  Service,  for  I  heartily  believe  in  it  when 
so  applied  as  to  bring  material  that  can  be  used 


246  Vanishing  Landmarks 

to  bring  results.  I  appreciate  your  expressed 
desire  to  co-operate  and  I  only  ask  that  you 
make  it  good  by  co-operating. 

Very  truly  yours, 

Leslie  M.  Shaw. 

letter  from  the  commission 

December  9,  1905. 
The  Secretary  of  the  Treasury: 

The  Commission  has  the  honor  to  acknowl- 
edge the  receipt  of  your  letter  of  the  5th  inst. 
in  which  are  indicated  your  wishes  with  respect 
to  the  proposed  examination  for  Special  Agents. 

In  reply  your  attention  is  invited  to  the  gen- 
eral questions  on  government,  law  and  customs 
matters  which  have  been  submitted  to  the  Com- 
mission by  your  Department.  Of  the  fifty-three 
questions  so  submitted,  fifteen  are  of  a  general 
character  and  could  be  readily  answered  by  any 
law  student.  Only  three  relate  to  evidence  in 
any  form.  These  are  of  such  an  elementary 
character  that  they  may  be  found  in  any  text 
book  on  the  subject  and  are  not  sufficient  to 
bring  out  a  satisfactory  knowledge  of  evidence. 
There  are  thirty-seven  questions  bearing  directly 
upon  customs  matters  although  your  letters  indi- 
cate that  a  knowledge  of  the  subject  is  not  to  be 
required  of  applicants.    After  careful  considera- 


Appendix  D  247 

tion  of  the  matter  and  in  view  of  your  recent 
letter  it  is  believed  that  the  questions  submitted 
by  your  Department  are  not  suitable  for  an  ex- 
amination of  Special  Agents. 

After  discussing  the  respoimhility  which  the 
Commission  must  hear  the  letter  proceeds: 

In  this  connection  your  attention  is  invited  to 
an  examination  for  law  clerk,  Class  4,  held  for 
your  Department  in  April,  1903.  This  exami- 
nation was  prepared  along  the  lines  indicated  by 
you  and  your  statement  that  only  graduates  of 
reputable  law  colleges  who  had  had  at  least  three 
years  practical  experience  subsequent  to  gradua- 
tion would  be  acceptable  to  the  Department,  was 
incorporated  in  the  announcement.  The  exami- 
nation consisted  principally  of  practical  ques- 
tions in  law  and  the  preparation  of  opinions 
upon  stated  cases.  Of  the  367  persons  who 
competed  only  20  attained  eligibility.  The  re- 
sults of  this  examination  were  very  unsatisfac- 
tory to  the  Commission  and  to  a  large  number 
of  the  competitors  who  felt  that  injustice  had 
been  done  them.  It  is  understood  that  several 
persons  who  were  regarded  by  the  officials  of 
the  Treasury  Department  as  qualified  for  the 
position  failed  in  the  examination.  A  large 
number  of  appeals  from  the  ratings  were  re- 
ceived, some  of  them  being  from  men  who  were 


248  Vanishing  Landmarks 

graduates  of  the  best  law  schools  in  the  country 
and  who  had  many  years  experience  in  the  prac- 
tice of  law  in  the  general  field. 

Then  follotcs  reference  to  examinations  for 
Tobacco  and  Tea  Examiners  quoted  in  Chapter 
XXIII ;  and  the  letter  closes  as  follows: 

The  Commission  is  strongly  of  opinion  that 
in  the  entire  force  of  the  Treasury  Department, 
comprising  as  it  does  many  thousand  employees, 
persons  can  be  found  who  possess  suitable  quali- 
fications for  Special  Agents. 

Very  respectfully. 

Commissioner. 

Treasury  Department,  December  11,  1905. 
To  the  Civil  Service  Commission: 

For  three  months  I  have  been  trying  to  get 
some  lawyers  on  the  eligible  list  that  I  may  im- 
prove the  Special  Agent  Service,  and  I  am  this 
near  success:  I  have  had  the  solicitor  for  this 
Department  prepare  a  list  of  questions  to  be 
submitted  with  others  which  the  Commission 
may  be  pleased  to  prepare.  I  have  not  exam- 
ined the  questions.  They  were  prepared  by 
Judge  O'Connell,  who  has  been  a  practicing 
lawyer  of  extensive  experience  for  twenty  years, 
and  has  several  times  served  on  the  committee 


Appendix  D  249 

to  examine  applicants  for  admission  to  the  Su- 
preme Court  of  his  state.  These  questions  youi' 
Commission  refused  to  use  and  dechned  to  pre- 
pare others.  You  tell  me  that  I  must  fill  the 
vacancies  from  clerks  in  the  Department.  This 
I  will  never  do.  The  vacancies  will  remain  while 
I  remain  unless  I  can  fill  them  in  a  way  that  in 
my  judgment  will  improve  the  service.  Possibly 
some  clerk  in  j^our  Department  can  prepare  a 
better  list  of  questions  than  Judge  O' Council 
has  submitted.  If  so  I  have  no  objection.  In 
fact  I  have  no  objection  to  any  course  you  may 
be  pleased  to  pursue  and  I  have  no  further  sug- 
gestions to  make.  I  only  ask  that  some  time 
within  a  year  or  so  the  Civil  Service  Commission 
get  a  few  lawyers  within  reach  for  the  special 
service  where  lawyers  are  necessary.  The  gov- 
ernment loses  millions  every  year  for  the  want 
of  men  in  the  Special  Agent  force,  competent 
to  prepare  cases  for  submission  to  the  Board  of 
General  Appraisers.  If  the  Commission  shall 
elect  to  assist  me  in  the  premises  I  shall  appre- 
ciate it  very  much,  and  if  it  declines  to  act  in 
the  future,  as  it  has  declined  in  the  past  I  shall 
submit,  unless  I  can  devise  some  other  way  to 
improve  the  service. 

Very  truly  yours, 

Leslie  M.  Shaw. 


250  Vanishing  Landmarks 

commission's  rejoinder  dated  dec.  20,  1905, 

We  are  clear  that  vacancies  in  the  position  as 
Special  Agent  cannot  be  satisfactorily  filled  by 
open  competitive  examinations.    .    .    . 

.  .  .  If  it  be  your  desire  as  indicated  in 
your  letter  that  we  should  hold  an  examination 
for  law  clerk  we  will  do  so;  and  if  you  wish  to 
make  use  of  that  register  in  filling  vacancies  in 
the  position  as  Special  Agent,  it  is  of  course 
your  privilege  to  do  so. 

Very  respectfully. 


Commissioner. 

Thereupon  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 
made  request: 

"Replying  to  your  letter  of  December  20th 
handed  to  me  by  your  Mr.  and  in  har- 
mony with  our  verbal  understanding  I  request 
that  the  Civil  Service  Commission  hold  an  ex- 
amination, giving  it  such  name  as  it  may  deem 
appropriate  but  so  arranged  as  to  exclude  all 
but  graduates  from  law  colleges,  and  who  in 
addition  have  had  not  less  than  three  years  ex- 
perience in  active  practice  including  trial  of 
cases  in  Nisi  Prius  Courts.  I  desire  to  make 
use  of  these  clerks  as  Special  Agents.  They 
should  be  eligible  for  appointment  direct  or  by 


Appetidix  D  251 

immediate  transfer  without  waiting  six  months. 
I  need  them  now,  and  will  be  pleased  if  the 
Commission  will  expedite  the  examination  in 
every  possible  way." 

On  December  29,  1905,  the  Commission  sub- 
mitted draft  of  an  announcement  of  an  exami- 
nation for  law  clerks  in  the  Treasury  Depart- 
ment and  added:  "It  is  requested  that  the  an- 
nouncement be  returned  to  this  office  at  your 
earliest  convenience  with  such  suggestions  as 
you  may  desire  to  make  in  regard  thereto." 

Suggestions  were  made  January  4,  1906. 

"I  suggest  that  you  eliminate  from  the  first 
paragraph  the  following: 

*In  making  certifications  to  positions  in  the 
Customs  Branch  of  the  Treasury  Department, 
consideration  will  be  given  to  experience  show- 
ing familiarity  with  Customs  Law  and  practice 
in  Customs  Cases.' 

There  is  not  a  lawyer  in  the  United  States 
who  has  had  experience  in  Customs  Cases  whom 
I  would  appoint  Special  Agent,  except  those 
who  are  earning  five  times  what  the  position  will 
pay.  There  are  some  in  the  cities,  and  especially 
in  New  York,  quite  a  number  of  disreputable 
fellows  who  have  had  some  experience  in  prac- 
tice in  Customs  Cases,  but  there  is  not  a  New 
York  lawyer  of  experience  in  Customs  Cases 


252  Vanishing  Landmarks 

whom  I  would  appoint  Special  Agent  except  as 
I  say  those  who  would  not  accept.  I  care  noth- 
ing for  familiarity  or  practice  in  Customs  Cases. 
What  I  want  is  a  man  competent  to  practice  in 
Customs  Cases,  and  with  integrity  enough  to 
justify  his  appointment." 

As  already  stated,  without  fault  of  the  Com- 
mission no  lawyer  who  had  ever  tried  a  case  in 
any  court  was  ever  made  eligible  and  the  Sec- 
retary of  the  Treasury  could  secure  one  only 
from  the  eligible  list.  There  was  an  eligible  list 
of  law  clerks  but  no  list  of  lawyers. 


i 


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This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below 


■g7     1934; 


Form  L-9-35m-8,'28 


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